


Cerulean Butterfly

by Fantastical_Chaos



Series: The Juliet and Cinderella Chronicles [4]
Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Drama, F/F, Sequel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-13 18:01:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28782393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantastical_Chaos/pseuds/Fantastical_Chaos
Summary: Continuation of the Juliet and Cinderella Chronicles. After the Thorns attacked the Cinderella Academy, Rin and Miku have been left picking up the pieces and battling the wars within themselves. For Rin, it is immense guilt at what she had done. For Miku, it's understanding her feelings for the small Juliet. Meanwhile, Meiko is on a mission to discover the truth.
Relationships: Hatsune Miku/Kagamine Rin, Kaito & Meiko (Vocaloid), Megurine Luka & Merli
Series: The Juliet and Cinderella Chronicles [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1992373
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Chapter 1

_What have I gotten myself into?_

With her teammate Hio by her side, Meiko stalked out of the hovercraft and laid eyes on the shack. They were meeting in a shack in the woods. This was how most horror dramas started.

"That . . . looks very cozy," Hio tried, but it was clear even he didn't believe what he was saying. The shack didn't look as if anyone had used it in the past decade or two. Maybe three. The boards were falling off the walls, most of the windows were cracked or gone altogether, and the porch steps had collapsed long ago.

 _Cozy my armpit._ Meiko simply muttered, "At least everyone else isn't going to be locked away like us as we plan our next move. It doesn't even appear there's enough room for us to so much as stand in that shack, and that's not including Tonio's crew."

"Speaking of which," Hio began looking up at the sky, "they should be here any minute now."

"Which means there's no time to dawdle, you two," Big Al said as he walked up to them, Rinto and Luki on his heels. "Come on, we should be ready to welcome them. After everything they've been through, it might be nice to see some smiling faces."

"'After everything they've been through'?" Meiko snorted. "What about everything we've been thro—"

"Not now, Sakine. All of us have been through some bad stuff lately; give them a chance to unwind, _then_ we can debate over who had it worse. Understand?"

Returning Big Al's grin, Meiko stated, "Understood, sir."

"Good, now let's move."

Meiko and Hio joined in alongside Big Al, Rinto, and Luki. Eyes on the pinket, Meiko studied their newest addition. He caught her looking, but Meiko didn't turn away. Luki smiled at her. It was a little too natural for Meiko to smile back.

"I have a feeling things are about to get very interesting," he told her, his hands shoved into his coat pockets to keep them from the biting winter air.

This was when Meiko heard something in the sky. She looked up to see a hovercraft preparing to land a few hundred feet out before its crew would walk the rest of the way here, with Meiko's group meeting them halfway. These people came from the Equinox Continent, and Meiko could not forget a single detail she heard from the news that morning.

Nodding, Meiko agreed with Luki. "Very interesting indeed."

"You remember what you were told about Tonio and his crew, don't you?" Luki asked in a way that didn't hide he was testing her. Hands shoved deeper into his coat pockets, he strolled forward. A sideways glance was the only indication he awaited Meiko's response.

Meiko kept her response short. "Of course."

"Care to repeat any of it?"

"No."

"And why not?"

"Because it seems you are the one who doesn't remember and are trying to use me as a reminder under the guise of testing me," Meiko answered.

Luki laughed and said nothing more, and Meiko allowed herself to study him yet again. Her team had just broken Luki out of one of the highest security prisons in the continent, and although she knew it was for the information he held, Meiko hadn't the slightest clue what that same information could have been. The time would come for Luki to reveal to her team and Tonio's what he knew, but that time would not come until some trust could be established between the two teams.

 _At least,_ Meiko decided, _we saved such a pretty head from rolling across an execution platform._

The two stepped into the shack just as Big Al was explaining, "—an underground tunnel where we can hunker down until we can determine our next move."

"Won't there be, uhhh," Hio rubbed the back of his neck, "rats and spiders down there?"

Big Al blinked his golden eyes as he beheld the blond boy. Shaking his head, he muttered something along the lines, "never realized I would have to be the father of some of these kids," and locked eyes with Meiko.

"Sakine," he began, "there is only one other girl on Tonio's team. Campos Ona, or something like that. I hope you two get along, because she's going to be your new roommate."

Not particularly fond of having to share a room with some stranger, Meiko forced herself to nod.

Campos Ona. Meiko knew the name. One of the former students of the now closing Cinderella Academy on the Equinox Continent. Brown-skinned, multilingual, and rather cold to even those counted amongst her friends. Meiko heard the reports from a little known Kasane Teto, a fellow Alice who spent the past three years spying the school. However, none of those things mattered to Meiko. The only thing she cared about was the tattoo on Ona's wrist.

While a cerulean butterfly was tattooed onto her left wrist, forever marking Meiko an Alice, this Campos Ona had a silver crown on her wrist.

Meiko may have not been fond over having to share a room with another woman, but she was less fond of having to share her room with a Cinderella.

Meiko only half paid attention as Big Al delegated tasks. The shack in which they were now residing, which had not been lived in for ages, needed to be cleaned out. Alongside this, it was close to time to meet with Opera Tonio and the others. That alone was going to be a mission in and of itself. With how long it took for Meiko to be accepted into her team, she couldn't help but wonder how quickly the others would adopt these new people as their fellow teammates.

"Sakine," Big Al finally finished, his large, meaty finger pointed at her, "with me."

While Hio groaned and Rinto and Luki both accepted their tasks – get a head start cleaning up the shack – with a nod, Meiko rose a brow. Big Al wanted Meiko to go with him to meet the others. The Alice was not sure if this was an honor or just a way for Big Al to keep an eye on Meiko lest she do something stupid in his absence.

"Why me?" Meiko asked, her tone making her words sound like a challenge. Hearing herself, Meiko bit her lower lip. It was going to take her a while to learn to show respect to her higher ups.

Big Al, however, didn't take her question as a challenge. He answered, "Since you make the best first impressions, it would be foolish to leave you behind as we prepare Tonio's crew for what the team will be like."

"Did you really just say that I make the best first impressions when I literally stabbed you in the arm the day we met?"

"You showed everyone the kind of woman you are to deal with, and you haven't disappointed me yet. What better introduction could we possibly hope to give to the others?"

 _He's got a point._ Meiko shrugged a shoulder and asked when they would be leaving. Beckoning her to follow, Big Al answered that it would be now.

"They will be landing in a clearing a short walk from here," Big Al explained as they walked out of the shack and into the woods. "We want to brief them on the situation so they know what we're coming out of and why we can't meet in our previously set location."

"That," Meiko mused, "and we want to give the boys a chance to make the shack look somewhat livable, right?"

"Exactly, Meiko, but tell nobody I confirmed that."

"Sir, yes, sir."

After well more than a few minutes, Meiko needed to ask Big Al what his definition of a short walk was, because she was starting to be sure his definition didn't match hers. The snow coated her jacket, the cold soaking into her clothes, onto her skin, and into her bones. The darkness from six months of night did not make the situation any more enjoyable. Part of Meiko wished for her bed in her old home. The rest of her sneered at the desire and reminded her that this, as hard as Meiko knew it was going to be, was far better than what she had left behind.

It was just as Meiko was about to open her mouth that the hovercraft came into sight. Her jaw slammed shut. She expected one of those fancy hovercrafts with the lobbies and a couple of rooms with beds, the exact kinds of hovercrafts rich people used. If not that, then perhaps a military hovercraft like the ones she and the others rode. This wasn't that kind of hovercraft either.

Instead, what lay before Meiko and Big Al was a standard passenger hovercraft. An older model too, based on the look of it. Not so old that it appeared it was slowly creeping towards the day it would simply give up and fall out of the sky, but definitely out of date by more than a few years or so.

The lights from the hovercraft gave light to this otherwise dark world. These new additions looked like fellow people and not figures in the night. She caught one of these new people looking at his wrist as if checking the time. Morning would be coming very soon. Meiko hoped these people weren't too used to the sunlight, because it was going to be many months before the sun rose again.

"Tonio, my brother!" Big Al greeted, arms open wide.

Meiko's attention shifted from the group of people huddled in a circle in front of the hovercraft's entrance to the large, smiling man by her side.

"Al, my dearest friend!" returned the man Meiko assumed was Opera Tonio. She watched as the two grown men embraced, patting each other on the back and crying as they went on about how they were overjoyed to see each other again.

The man Big Al hugged was much shorter than Big Al, but he still appeared tall and lean. His dark brown hair and beard lacked the gray streaked across like Big Al's despite the two being the same age. When they pulled away, Meiko got a look at his face and saw tears continued to stream from this man's gray eyes.

"We must discontinue waiting too long between meetings," the man, Tonio, said. "We're family, for crying out loud! We really should be seeing each other every Christmas."

"Yes," Big Al agreed, "but unfortunately your wife is not a fan of dealing with us commoners. Is it true she still refuses to talk to your daughter for marrying my son?"

"Alas, it is as you say, but worry not. Avanna wants nothing to do with Prima just as much as Prima wants nothing to do with her and Oliver. But enough of that. You and I can discuss life later as we drink away our problems. Now, then."

Tonio turned his attention towards Meiko, smiled, bowed, and offered his hand. Meiko didn't take it, instead choosing to stare at his upwards palm then back at his face.

Still smiling, Tonio stood upright and said, "You must be the new recruit I have heard so much about. Have to say, I'm really impressed you stabbed old Al here the day you met. Most women don't stab him until they have known him for at least a week."

"What can I say other than I don't mess around?" Meiko tilted her head, the closest she would get herself to acknowledge this man's status not just in their aligned forces but also in society. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"The pleasure is all mine." Tonio turned around and waved the others forward. "What are you all waiting around for? An invitation? Well, here it is! Come over here and meet your new friends."

As the others approached, Meiko counted and evaluated each individual. Five. That was all this Opera Tonio had to offer. Five additional people. Four men, and one woman.

Meiko's eyes were immediately drawn to the woman, Campos Ona, the Cinderella with whom she would be rooming. The lanky, brown-skinned woman glared at Meiko just as fiercely as Meiko knew she was glaring at her. Instead of a frilly ballgown or a fancy evening dress, this Cinderella wore skin tight dark trousers, boots that went up to her knees, and a thick puffer coat that had to have been designed for a man's practical use and not a woman's fashion use.

"Like what you see?" was how Ona greeted Meiko. "Because I'm a dinner first kind of girl."

"I'm sorry," Meiko returned, "but you're not my type."

"Even if it meant keeping warm?"

"I know, my standards are too high."

Ona grinned like a wicked sinner. "Don't hook up with people prettier than you, I see."

Smirking, Meiko decided to like Ona. The Cinderella's returned smirk indicated she felt the same way. So far, meeting the others was off to a great start.

Eyes torn away from Ona, Meiko surveyed the men. There were two brunets and a blond. The older brunet wore glasses and had a tablet in his hands, and it appeared he was either working on some formula or hacking into a network as he talked to Big Al and Tonio. As for the other two, they stood close together and occasionally communicated in sign language. Meiko tried to figure out what they were talking about, but there were enough differences between Winter Sign Language and Equinox Sign Language for Meiko to barely understand enough signs to piece the conversation together.

Then her eyes landed on the last person in Opera Tonio's group. He was taller than the others, but he wasn't very toned either. This man looked like the kind of person who spent his childhood locked indoors instead of outside playing with rocks and sticks with the other kids in his neighborhood.

His shaggy midnight locks were disheveled as if the man had spent the past half hour running his fingers through his hair. The footsteps in the snow indicating there had been pacing implied that was exactly what happened. This man also held his arms tightly over his body, his form trembling as his teeth chattered so loudly Meiko could hear it from a few feet away. The poor dear looked miserable. It was so funny a sight, Meiko couldn't stop the corners of her lips from rising a little.

It was at this exact moment the man caught her watching him. His sapphire eyes narrowed as his gaze locked onto hers. It might have been a little discomforting if he wasn't shaking like a leaf where he stood.

"What's so funny?" he snarled, his words barely decipherable over his uncontrolled shivering.

"Oh, nothing really," Meiko replied in a sickly sweet tone. "Just a man shaking so much I can't tell if he has his boots set to vibrate."

"It isn't my fault it's ice cold out here. Literally."

"Colder than the goddess's tit, I agree, but man up why don't you."

The man's face darkened to a deep shade of crimson. Meiko was about to laugh, but Big Al's large hand falling onto her shoulder silenced her. Looking first at Big Al then back at the man, Meiko bit her tongue and said nothing more.

"We are currently in the process of restoring our old hideout," Big Al was saying to Tonio. "It would be a much better place to sleep than that hovercraft, I suppose."

"Are we sure about that?" Meiko asked, a small frown forming on her face. "That rinky dink shack doesn't look like anyone has lived in it since long before my Mom's first period."

It surprised Meiko when Tonio was the one who answered, "That's the point, my dear. A fancy hideout would draw attention. An aged, possibly falling apart log cabin would draw less. I'm sure the underground portion is in much better shape than you would expect. I mean, it looked decent enough to me when I used it to hide away from my wife for a few weeks last summer."

Brows furrowed, Meiko turned her attention back to Big Al to say, "If that's the case, then why did you lead the rest of us to believe otherwise?"

Chuckling, Big Al merely replied, "It's a lot of fun to see you kids squirm. There isn't a whole lot to laugh at, so don't be surprised when I take any opportunity to mess with you all any way I can."

With a small huff, Meiko shook off Big Al's touch. It might have been easier accepting contact from this man, but it still took a lot of Meiko's self-control to not stab him in the arm again. Part of Meiko wondered how long it would be before one of the new people asked Big Al why he still had a large bandage above his elbow.

Moments later, Big Al waved the newcomers forward and began to lead them to the shack. Meiko hugged herself, the cold biting into her now that she was moving again. The others engaged themselves with hushed conversation, paying little to no attention besides where they were going. One was missing from the group. Curious how that other guy was doing, Meiko shifted her gaze towards him.

The man walked with stiff legs, as if his knees couldn't bend. He pulled his coat closer as if it would do any good to help him keep warm. Curse words began and died on his lips, almost as if this man was too prim and proper to speak such foul language.

"You'll get used to it," Meiko said, intending to be reassuring but her words managing to sound harsh as she slowed her pace to walk alongside him.

"That," the man replied, his own words sharp, "or I'll freeze to death first."

"Don't be such a sissy."

"Are you always such a lady?"

Not missing the sarcasm in this man's tone, Meiko held her nose in the air as she stated, "I'm no lady."

"That much is obvious."

"I beg your pardon."

"My apologies, ma'am. Was I not supposed to agree with you?"

"My, my," Meiko tore her eyes away from the man, "I have never met such a gentleman before."

"You are not exactly the most elegant being either."

Biting back her response, Meiko tensed her body and began to march forward. Being friendly was never her specialty, not when she never mastered the art of thinking before she spoke. She didn't make it three steps before her wrist was grabbed from behind.

"Look, I'm—"

The man didn't get to finish. Reacting on pure instinct alone, Meiko loosed the blade tucked in her sleeve and held it in her hand. Her arm moved to strike this man and insert her weapon into his body, but she was held back by an outside force.

When Meiko noticed Big Al holding her wrist back, Meiko dropped her blade to the snowy ground and apologized. Too ashamed to look Big Al in the eyes, Meiko stared at the trees behind him. After Big Al finally dropped her arm, Meiko rubbed her wrist before muttering another apology to the man, scooping up her blade, and walking away.

"Don't touch Meiko, Lord Shion," she could hear Big Al saying. "Trust me, I learned that one the hard way."

Meiko clenched her jaw and continued marching forward. The others slowed to see what happened, and soon Meiko passed them. She slowed only enough for Big Al to resume leading the way so she wouldn't get lost, and Meiko did not look back once.

After knowing these new teammates for no more than ten minutes, Meiko had already created a strained relationship between them and herself.

* * *

_This is all my fault._

Rin pressed her back against the wall and tried her best to keep her knees from giving out beneath her and sending her to the ground. Closing her eyes, Rin forced herself to take a deep breath and to not barge into the room. A lowly Juliet such as herself did not deserve to so much as think about stepping foot into a room of such high-class members of society without first being beckoned.

"—return with such a nasty thing?!" Mrs. Hatsune, Miku's mom, was shouting. "Did your father and I not teach you throughout your whole life to avoid such misfortune? My darling, Miku, you should know better!"

"But you don't even know Rin!" Miku argued, but she didn't get any further before her mother began shouting again.

"You _named_ it? For the love of the goddess, Miku, you should know better than to name these things. How many times has that happened with the stray cats you would bring home throughout the years? Once you named it, you grew attached to it, which only succeeded in making it more difficult for your father and I to make you get rid of it."

"Rin isn't a pet, and I didn't name her!"

"Don't try to argue with me, young lady. And let's not forget all that weight you packed on!"

Rin's eyes flew open and she sucked in a breath just as Miku audibly gasped. They knew this was coming. Miku had shared with Rin her anxiety over her mother's reaction at seeing all the weight Miku had gained during the school year, and now that moment had finally arrived.

"Look at you!" Even without being able to see what happened on the other side of the door, Rin knew Mrs. Hatsune was waving her hand over Miku's body. "You're twice the size you were when you left. I thought you had gained some semblance of self-control years ago. For shame, Miku. It looks as if you're going to have to be put on a strict diet until you are again presentable to the public. Oh, just one look at you and it's no wonder you didn't return home with a ring on your finger."

"Breaking the engagement was my idea!" Miku snapped, then the room went deafly quiet.

It was still odd for Rin to know that Miku had ended her engagement with Lord Shion. On the one hand, Rin was glad to never have to see that man again. On the other, Rin could see just how much the decision hurt Miku and how Rin occasionally caught Miku pulling up his contact information only for her finger to hang over the Call button before putting the information away again. The selfish part of Rin was glad she no longer had to compete with Lord Shion for Miku's affections. The part of Rin that truly loved Miku hated herself for finding even the smallest bit of joy in the Cinderella's pain.

Pushing herself away from the wall, and away from the conversation happening inside the room, Rin meandered away in hopes of taking her mind off this whole mess.

It didn't work.

Now trapped in the realm of her own thoughts, Rin curled her fingers into fists so that her nails could puncture her palms. Even the slightest bit of pain might help distract from the mental and emotional spiral Rin had recently found herself in. Not even the recent change of scenery – she and Miku had arrived to Miku's home only the night before – helped any.

Ms. Yuzuki had joined Gumi and Nero on the list of names of those Rin knew who had passed far too young. Worst yet, Ms. Yuzuki's death was Rin's fault. Although she was not the one who sent the arrow flying through Ms. Yuzuki's heart, Rin was still the one who helped the Thorns infiltrate the school. The blood of all who died that day was on Rin's hands. No longer was Rin deemed as someone worth dying for, but someone who sent multiple people to their graves.

 _If Nero could see me now, if he could have known that this is what I would do,_ Rin thought, her vision blurring with each step forward as a lump grew in her throat, _he would wish he never jumped in after me._

Coming across a closet, Rin looked around to assure herself that she was alone before stepping inside. With the door shut, Rin huddled in the corner with the hanging coats as some sort of protective barrier. Knees tucked to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs, Rin tilted her chin into her chest and began to cry.

Minutes passed, then hours. Soon Rin began to wonder if she spent the whole night sitting in the corner of a small coat closet. Rin wanted to get up and get out, but she found that she had been sitting for so long her joints were locked in place.

Rin's head jerked upwards when she heard the closet door slam shut. Afraid of being caught, Rin scooted deeper into the closet. The shuffling feet sent Rin's heart skyrocketing as she descended deeper into the closet lest she be found.

"Rin."

Now Rin's heart stopped altogether.

"Rin," the voice called again.

"No," Rin whispered before shaking her head. "No. No! NO!"

"There you are," sang the sweet voice of Ms. Yuzuki as she pulled the coats back, exposing Rin.

A scream built up in Rin, but she bit it back. Ms. Yuzuki stared at Rin with her lifeless, glassy eyes. Red blossomed from her heart and all over the front of her dress, the tip of the arrow that pierced her sticking out of her chest and pointing at the guilty Rin.

"I see you, Rin," Ms. Yuzuki said, stepping forward.

"No!" Rin cried as she began crawling backwards. "Stay away! STAY AWAY!"

Ms. Yuzuki laughed as Rin, still seated on the floor, tried to frantically scoot away. The blood from her bosom began to flow again, darkening her dress and dripping to the floor. When Rin was as far against the wall as she could get and could go no further away from Ms. Yuzuki, the undead Cinderella laughed as she towered over the Juliet responsible for her death.

"I will always be a part of you!" She crackled. "I shall haunt you until the end of your days!"

"No!" Rin tried to cover herself from the blood falling to her face, but it was too late. Ms. Yuzuki's hot blood fell onto Rin's forehead and trailed down her cheeks.

Screaming, Rin crawled away from under Ms. Yuzuki's bleeding corpse. When she was far enough away, she turned around to witness the still laughing Ms. Yuzuki make eye contact with her just before the Cinderella bled so profusely that her whole body became the blood that gushed from her wound. Rin watched in horror until there was nothing left of Ms. Yuzuki save her pile of blood and the arrow that killed her.

Feeling as if she was going to throw up, Rin pushed herself to shaky feet and began to back away slowly. Unable to tear her eyes away from the pool of scarlet, Rin didn't realize there was another person in the closet with her until she collided with them. Another cry tore from Rin, but when she turned around and saw who it was she bumped into, she almost began to shed tears of joy.

"Gumi!" Rin exclaimed, her body shaking as if her legs didn't remember how to stand.

Green eyes locked onto Rin's, Gumi showed Rin her familiar mischievous smile. Gumi was alive and whole. Showing her crooked yellow teeth, Gumi simply greeted, "We meet again, Rin."

"Oh, Gumi!" Rin threw herself at her friend. Hugging the fellow Juliet tightly, Rin sobbed, "I knew it was only a bad dream. I knew you would show up again. I missed you so much, Gumi! I really, really missed you."

"Then how come you never visited my grave?"

Blood turning to ice, Rin slowly pulled away from the hug. Gumi still wore her mischievous smile, but something about it was now unsettling to Rin. Heart stopping, Rin slowly backed away from Gumi, her hands trembling in midair.

Rin didn't know what to say. The lump in her throat made speaking almost impossible. When Rin opened her mouth, all she could manage was, "Gumi?"

"You will forget about me, too," Gumi said, her tone taking on a slightly demonic quality.

"No." Rin shook her head slowly at first, but then the motion grew to be quick and jerky. "No! NO! I would never forget you, Gumi! I could never, ever forget you!"

"You will forget me," Gumi prophesized, "just as you have forgotten Nero."

Losing the ability to breathe, Rin stood stone still as she processed Gumi's words. _But I haven't forgotten Nero,_ she wanted to say. Yet Rin didn't believe she could speak those words, not when she hadn't so much as thought about Nero and how she still missed him in the past few months.

Nero was the only person Rin ever loved who truly loved her in return, and now she was letting his memory slip away in favor of a Cinderella who _owned_ Rin.

As if she could read Rin's thoughts, Gumi giggled. It was a very unnerving sound. "You really are the most pathetic of creatures, huh?"

Before Rin could think of a response – any response – Gumi's head rolled off her shoulders, hit the floor with a wet thud, and began rolling towards Rin.

It was as if Rin's shoes were fill with lead. It was as if Rin's eyes were pinned open and she was physically forced to watch the scene before her. Rin wanted to run away and avoid seeing anymore, but she couldn't do anything to keep herself from watching Gumi's disembodied head roll closer and closer to her. When Gumi's head bumped into Rin's feet, Rin could barely breathe as she stared at the pale and lifeless face.

Then Gumi's eyes flew open, she again grinned at Rin, and she said, "I died for love. What will you die for, Kagamine Rin?"

Rin started shrieking. Tightly closing her eyes, Rin cried out as she kicked and thrashed. She wanted this to end. It had to end. This eternal torment could not be her life.

"Rin! Rin! RIN!"

Eyes opening again, Rin sucked in a sharp breath and held it as she took in her surroundings. She was still in the closet, sitting in the corner like she was before Ms. Yuzuki found her. Yet instead of either the pierced Ms. Yuzuki or the headless Gumi, it was Miku who joined Rin in her hideout.

Miku, with her beautiful blue orbs locked onto Rin, who furrowed her brows and pursed her lips as she beheld the Juliet before her. Hand on Rin's shoulder, Miku gave the Juliet a slight squeeze as if to let Rin know that she was there and that this was real. Then she slowly traveled her hand from Rin's shoulder to cup the Juliet's cheek, and Rin couldn't help but lean into the touch.

"Are you all right?" Miku asked, her melodious voice like music to Rin's ears. "You were screaming. I'm sure it was just a nightmare, but Rin . . . are you all right?"

Eyes filling with tears, Rin opened her mouth to answer, but a sob came out instead. Miku pulled Rin into a hug, and Rin was quick to return it. Unable to speak, Rin allowed herself to cry into Miku's shoulder until the tears were all spent.

* * *

"I just can't believe she's gone. . . ." Inside Miku's screen, Luka dabbed at her eyes with a handkerchief and took a deep breath. "First Gumi, now Gakuko. Why do things like this happen? Why do people have to die? How could such bright lights in this dark world be snuffed out so easily?"

Not having answers to Luka's questions, Miku sunk lower in her chair. Shaking her head, all Miku could say was, "The memorial service is this weekend."

"Will you be going?"

"Of course. I want to offer Gakuko's family my condolences, and . . . I want to say goodbye. Even if she's gone and won't know if I say goodbye or not, I still want to say it anyway. For closure."

Luka nodded as if she understood, which she proved that she did when she said, "I never got to say goodbye to Gumi. Or at least nothing more than eye contact on that stage shortly before—" Luka cut herself off, still unable to speak the words.

Powerless to stop herself, Miku's eyes traveled in Rin's direction, who sat in the chair in a corner of Miku's room. There was a book in Rin's hands, but the lack of page turning shortly after Miku called Luka told Miku enough. Rin had a nightmare so bad that Miku found her screaming in a coat closet, but Miku could not get Rin to tell her anything about it.

The two sat inside of Miku's room. Her rose pink walls surrounded them, and her large windows let in the Artemis sunlight. Miku's bed had a dark purple quilt, and the chair in which Rin sat was a similar shade. The vanity and desk were the softest shade of cream. Inside Miku's closet was a dress every shade of every color in the rainbow.

This had been Miku's room since her birth. Now it felt as if it belonged to a stranger. Miku couldn't get comfortable, whether she was painting by the window or trying to sleep in her bed.

Yet whatever discomfort Miku felt, it was clear to her Rin felt it tenfold.

"Gakuko lived in the Diane District," Miku mumbled. "If you want, we can meet halfway and travel the rest of the way together."

Luka nodded. "I would much rather not be alone, either."

Again, the silence stretched between the Cinderellas. Miku never knew what to do during somber conversations. Neither she nor Luka clearly wanted to keep discussing their friend's sudden and early death, but switching to a lighthearted topic would be both forced and disrespectful of Gakuko's memory.

"I think Gakuko sent me her short story compilation shortly before . . . you know, the, erm, the fundraiser." Luka scratched the back of her neck and avoided looking at Miku. "I was thinking about printing it out and, I don't know, bringing it with me to her service. I think if she could see us, Gakuko would want to know that even though she's no longer here, she won't be forgotten. Her legacy lives on in her writing, you know?"

Sinking in her chair, Miku muttered, "I didn't even know until the day of the fundraiser that Gakuko was a writer."

The frown on Luka's face made Miku's heart sink. "She talked about her writing often, Miku. You must have been too preoccupied with Lord Shion to notice."

Although Miku believed Luka didn't intend for the comment to sting, it still did. Luka was right. Throughout nearly the entire schoolyear, Miku became one of those foolish girls who almost always daydreamed about the boy she liked. There was so much Miku had missed out on or not noticed altogether. Some of it happened right next to Miku, and she was too oblivious to catch on until it was too late.

 _"_ _I love her."_

Rin had said those words. Taking the blast for Miku, and probably believing that she was going to die in Miku's place, Rin had confessed words of love. Even though it had been nearly two weeks since the incident, Miku still couldn't stop thinking about it.

 _"_ _I love her." What does she mean? How . . . how does Rin love me?_

It should have been an easy answer. Miku should have no reason to doubt that Rin meant as a friend, but Miku wasn't sure that was what Rin meant at all. Miku wasn't sure that was what she wanted Rin to mean.

Neither Miku nor Rin brought up the confession since it happened. Instead of asking the one question that would answer everything, Miku kept it to herself and allowed her inner turmoil to continue. If Rin had no plans to talk about it, then Miku wouldn't pressure it out of her.

"Miku? Miku?!"

"Huh, what?" As if dazed, Miku blinked a few times and focused on Luka's image on the screen. "I'm sorry. Did you say something?"

Shaking her head, Luka replied, "I can see you are a little spacey today. Are you okay? I heard you and Lord Shion ended your relationship. With that and Gakuko's passing happening so close together . . . Miku, how are you feeling?"

Miku rested a hand on her soft belly. Although she hadn't been binging like before, Miku still had moments in which she didn't know what else to do save eat. However, what she sought was not a distraction from the stress and worries of life but instead the confusion of her heart alongside the mourning of a friend.

That was why Miku didn't believe she lied when she answered, "I'm not okay, but I'm doing better than I thought I would be doing. Is that terrible? To be doing all right enough when a beloved friend has been taken away far too soon?"

"I mean, it's either learn to carry the pain or be immobilized by it." Luka shrugged. "I should go. Mother insists I join her for her friend's tea party this afternoon. She wants to try to set me up with a vineyard owner's son."

"Do your parents not know that you prefer other women?"

"Miku, are you insane? I already brought such shame and disgrace on our family by being with Gumi. If they knew that it wasn't just some fling for pleasure and that I actually loved—"

Watching as Luka held her tongue and looked away, Miku bit her finger as she searched desperately for the words to say. She couldn't find any. There was nothing Miku could offer Luka to help lessen the pain.

"Nobody else can know that I desire other women," Luka said, monotone, as she continued to stare at something and nothing at the same time. "I shall bring no more shame to the Megurine name. I will find a man I like enough, marry him, maybe have children, and then spend the rest of my life unhappy. There are no other options for people like me, Miku."

Before Miku could attempt to say anything to reply, Luka wished her a farewell and hung up. Miku stared at a blank screen for a moment. Taking a deep breath, Miku pushed herself away from her desk and looked towards Rin.

The blonde looked up at Miku, a small frown on her lips. Her attention then returned to her book. Rin was still on that same page.

 _"_ _I love her."_

Feeling an ache in her chest, Miku wondered if Rin would ever say those words again. More than that, Miku wondered if given the chance, she would return them.


	2. Chapter 2

The underground portion of the new hideout wasn't as bad as the outside gave the initial impression. If anything, Kaito's only complaint was that it was a little small. There were no rooms, only mattresses tucked into the corners with bed sheets acting as walls.

Kyo and Yuu were again engaged in one of their silent conversations – _Do they ever actually talk to each other?_ – while Kiyoteru, Tonio, and Big Al began discussing future plans.

"We should probably start figuring out who's going to room with whom." That pink haired guy Kaito recalled was named Luki stood next to him. "Although I wouldn't suggest you get too excited picking your sleeping buddy. The tall brunette is mine."

"You can have her," Kaito didn't hesitate to respond. His eyes traveled towards the women to see Ona and that Meiko person whispering to each other and laughing between themselves at whatever was said. It was nice to see at least one person in the group was enjoying herself despite all the hell going on around them and in the world.

"Whoa," Luki grinned at Kaito in a way that wasn't as friendly as Luki probably intended it, "you mean to tell me you don't think she's a looker? Or do you got something against love, buddy?"

_The girl I'm in love with broke off our engagement for a Juliet. Yeah, I got plenty against this so-called "love" of which you speak._

"I just have more important things to think about," was what Kaito actually said. "You know, with bringing down the Thorns and all that. What happened on the Cinderella Academy in the Equinox Continent was bad enough, and I would like to stop the Thorns before anything like it has the chance to happen again."

Luki tilted his head to the side. "What do you know about all of this?"

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Kaito said, "I was at the academy nearly the whole time this happened. Frak, I was almost assassinated _in my own district_. What do you mean, 'What do you know about all of this?'"

"Not enough, apparently."

Kaito shot his gaze towards Meiko and stated, "This conversation does not concern you."

"Um, excuse me?" Meiko rose a slender brow. "Did you just say this doesn't concern me? I got news for you, little lord: This, the reason we're hiding out in a shack in the woods, concerns everyone here."

"Look, I don't know who you think you are—" Kaito cut himself off when he noticed that Meiko had taken off her gloves, possibly after entering the hideout. He couldn't see the whole tattoo, but he saw enough to know it was a cerulean butterfly that was etched onto her left wrist.

"An Alice, huh?" He made eye contact with Meiko. "Tell me, who do you think you are?"

Face turning beet red, Meiko calmly replied, "My caste is not a representative of my worth."

"Yes, it is. The Sisters foretold your worth in this world before giving you that tattoo. If you were born to do great things, they would have given you a silver crown instead."

For a moment, the Alice was struck speechless. Then, eyes narrowed, she charged forwards as she began, "Why, you little piece of—"

"Meiko!"

For a big man, Al was swift enough to get a hold of Meiko before she could pounce on Kaito. He was grateful for the bigger man as Meiko clawed and screamed in Al's grasp. No longer seeming human, Meiko acted as if she was no different from a wild animal.

It was then Tonio grabbed Kaito above the elbow and yanked him back so harshly that Kaito nearly fell over. Baring his teeth, Tonio hissed, "What are you thinking, angering a new comrade when you have only known her for a few hours? That's a teammate you want to save your life one day, not leave you for dead when none of us could ever know any better!"

Shaking out of Tonio's hold, Kaito sternly replied, "Alices belong in the kitchen or in a tailor shop. Barefoot and pregnant, if they're lucky. We don't need such simple women helping us bring down a rebellion when we don't know for sure if they would join our cause or also rise up to bring the system down."

Before Tonio could respond, Meiko shouted, "He doesn't know anything at all, does he?!"

Both men snapped their attention towards Meiko. Al no longer held her back, but he stood close to the women as if to catch her if she lunged again. Her arms were tightly crossed, and Meiko glared at both Tonio and Kaito as if she would personally tear them apart if only she was allowed.

"What do any of you know?" Meiko challenged, eyes traveling over Kiyoteru, Kyo, Yuu, and Ona. "Do you know who our real enemy is? Haven't you heard of the Benevolence?"

Kaito watched each of his teammate's reactions. Only Kiyoteru nodded as if he knew of what Meiko spoke. The others furrowed their brows, and Ona turned her attention towards Tonio and frowned at him.

"The Benevolence?" she simply questioned. Tonio had no answer for her.

Laughing without humor, Meiko continued, "Perhaps you should tell your people what our threat really is before they get in too deep and realize there's no turning back. My team was not betrayed for a silly Juliet rebellion that barely existed before now. We did not risk our lives to save Luki for a pathetic revolt. It's not your status that's at stake, little lord. It's all of Artemis. Men, Cinderellas, Alices, _and_ Juliets."

With that said, Meiko spun on her heel and stalked out of the room. Kaito watched as the Alice stomped up the stairs and disappeared behind the doorway. Groaning, Al shook his head and followed after her.

After the two had left, the men on Al's team shuffled from foot to foot before all found reasons to excuse themselves. They did not speak with each other as they walked out of the room. Soon, only Kaito and his teammates were left.

Silence lingered in the air for a moment or two before Ona stepped forward and repeated, "The Benevolence?"

Kaito watched as Tonio looked at each and every person who remained in the room. Nothing in his expression gave away what he possibly thought. Finally, after his eyes traveled around the others a few times, he finally gave a defeated sigh.

"So," was how he slowly began, "how many of you believe in life out there in the stars?"

* * *

The stress had been piling onto Miku so heavily the past few days, she was just one inconvenience away from breaking down into a teary mess. No longer having a black dress that fit her almost broke that final thread, but Miku took a deep breath and pushed the tears back. If she was going to have an emotional breakdown, it was going to be after her mother could no longer watch her daughter as if Miku could not be trusted on her own for more than a minute at a time.

"We will have to stop by a dress shop before we meet with Luka," Miku told Rin after Miku finished inspecting every black and dark gray dress in her closet and came to the predictable conclusion that none of them would do.

"I accessed your tablet and searched for every tailor shop on the trip there," Rin replied as she put her so few belongings in her own bag.

Although Miku knew it wasn't meant to sting, she still winced at Rin's words. Almost without thinking, Miku touched her now soft belly. Although she had lost some of the weight she gained back when she binge ate to deal with the stress that built up as the school year came to its agonizing close, but there was still plenty of pudge left behind. Pudge for which Mrs. Hatsune did not fail to shame Miku. Pudge that reminded Miku of her faults and failures every time she looked at herself in the mirror.

 _While Rin mourned the loss of her friend, I ate._ The words played in Miku's head like a demon who received joy in whispering these things to her. _While Kaito and his family feared for their lives, I ate. While Mew was in a coma and we didn't know if she would ever wake up, I ate. All I did the whole time was eat, and look what good that did to anyone at all._

"Say, Miku," Rin began as she moved towards the window and pushed the curtains further apart, "perhaps we should go on a walk this evening? The weather should be cool enough by then for us to get some fresh air and not sweat to death while we do it. What do you say?"

Miku opened her mouth to answer, but her words caught in her throat when she saw Rin's back. The Juliet wore a simple white gown that barely counted as a dress. It was one of the few things Miku's parents would allow the forsaken Juliet to wear as long as she was within their estate.

Yet the reminder of the lack of appropriate clothing for Rin wasn't what stunned Miku.

With the fabric of the gown pressed against Rin's back as she stretched out her arms to hold back the curtains, the scars from the lashes she had received were visible through the slightly transparent material.

_While Rin was being whipped for a crime she didn't commit, I ate._

Tears filled Miku's eyes, but she again forced them back down. Shortly after Rin's whipping, Miku alternated between binging and not eating. Never in her life had Miku, a Cinderella prophesized to do great things with her life, felt so useless.

"Miku?" Rin turned around and frowned at the Cinderella. Moving away from the window to walk forward, Rin reached out and took Miku's hand, the hand with which Miku had been holding her belly.

"Don't worry, Miku, the extra weight only means there's more of you to love," Rin said, misunderstanding Miku's silence. "I know it's hard to not let what your mom says get to you, but I hope you understand that she's wrong. For what it's worth, I think you're beautiful."

_"I love her."_

Rin's words repeated themselves in Miku's mind as Rin smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Unable to stop herself, Miku squeezed the hand back. Slipping her hand out of Miku's and walking away, Rin said something about going on that evening stroll, but Miku only half paid attention.

While the Juliet chatted away about fresh air being good for them and being out might help Miku relax and clear her mind, Miku watched Rin as if the blonde was some sort of exotic bird. Rin's delicate frame, dancelike movements, and voice ringing as if a bell sometimes had Miku doubting if Rin was even human. What was initially a fascination of Rin because of her tattoo slowly became a fascination of Rin as a person as Miku gradually got to know her former shadow. In a lot of ways, Miku craved Rin's presence on such a deep, intense level Miku never knew was possible. Even more, Miku knew that Rin loved her.

 _But do I love Rin in return?_ Bringing her fingers to her lips, Miku began to nibble on her nails as Rin packed the last of her few things away for the trip. Miku loved Kaito, and she yearned for him on physical levels, but it was a relationship never meant to last. Miku felt a stronger emotional attachment to Rin, but she never craved the Juliet in a similar manner. Not only was Miku unable to hope to begin to understand the feelings she had for two of some of the most important people in her life, but she was unsure what they could possibly mean for her relationships as time passed by.

"Miku?" Rin questioned, dragging the Cinderella back to reality. "Are you okay? You have been awfully distracted these past few days. Actually, you have been distracted since before returning home. Is there something that happened you need or want to talk about?"

_Yes. What did you mean when you said that you love me?_

"I suppose I have yet to fully process everything that has happened," Miku said, the response mostly true. "There's been so much in so little time. Now here we are, trying to catch up while the rest of the world still rushes forward."

Rin nodded. "I . . . I understand. It's still odd for me to wake up in your room, on your bed, instead of on that couch in your suite in the academy. For the first minute I'm awake, I'm terribly confused. Then it all hits me from out of nowhere, or so it seems. I'm not sure what I feel most days, nor do I know what it is I should feel. It's all so . . ."

Shaking her head, Rin didn't finish. Her eyes were locked on the window as she brushed her bangs out of her eyes. With sunlight from the outside shining through the window and onto Rin, the blonde appeared as if she was a painting. Miku desperately tried to capture the memory to paint later. Rin looked so beautiful and mysterious at the same time, the very picture of the complexity of mankind.

"Rin," Miku began softly, "I have noticed that I'm not the only one who has been distracted as of late. Tell me, what has been weighing so heavily on your mind?"

Visibly swallowing, Rin continued to stare out the window. It was only now Miku wondered if Rin even remembered confessing that she had feelings for her. Perhaps Rin had always intended the words to be her last, or maybe Rin only said them because it sounded romantic in her dying moments. It wasn't until now Miku realized she wanted to hear Rin say those words again. Miku wanted Rin to look her in the eyes and confess her love, not because she thought she was going to die, but because she wanted Miku to know.

Miku then hated herself for being so selfish. She should not want Rin to repeat those words if Miku herself didn't know if she returned the feelings. However, perhaps Miku wanted the confirmation before she decided to fall into these complex but surely present emotions she felt towards the Juliet. It might have been too soon to fall in love after suddenly breaking off her engagement, but Miku didn't deny her lack of heartache over the ended relationship. As much as Miku loved Kaito, it wasn't until after the fact she realized that she had never been in love with the lord after all. She had been in love with love the whole time. Not that she didn't love the man, but it wasn't the kind of love for marriage. Ending the relationship was the better decision for the both of them. Kaito was no longer attached and free to find a woman who could truly love him in return, and Miku was now able to discover what it was she felt for the woman standing across from her.

That was why it disappointed Miku when Rin finally replied, "I'm afraid there's too much going on inside my head to dwell on only one thing."

It took a lot of Miku's self-control to not call Rin out on her lie. It was unlikely Rin would have nightmares if there wasn't something in particular haunting her. Something happened that day of the attack to upset Rin, and no matter how long it took for Rin to confess it, Miku was going to find out.

That was why Miku took a deep breath and smiled a genuine smile as she stated, "Then I suppose an evening walk will do us both good to clear out our minds after all, huh?"


	3. Chapter 3

Rin woke up in a pool of her own tears. Choking back another sob, she turned her attention towards Miku. The Cinderella was still fast asleep on her side of the bed, face directed towards Rin, her soft snores filling the room.

Against her better judgement, Rin reached out and brushed a few strands of hair behind Miku's ear. Unable to help herself, Rin then trailed her fingers down Miku's soft cheek. It was a good thing Miku was heavy enough a sleeper to not often be disturbed by the thrashing Rin's nightmares sometimes caused, otherwise her face would be screwed up in worry and concern instead of its current relaxed and peaceful.

 _"I love her."_ Rin had said those words, believing them to be her last. At first, she expected Miku to say something about them, but Miku never said anything at all. It was as good a sign as any that Miku didn't return the feelings and decided to not embarrass Rin by repeating them. It broke Rin's heart, but she was grateful to be given the opportunity to pretend it never happened and hopefully forget it one day.

Although Rin wasn't stupid enough to actually believe she would ever forget developing feelings for this high-class lady who would never in any universe fall in love with Rin in the first place.

 _Besides,_ Rin sighed as she pulled her hand away, _if Miku knew I had a part in Ms. Yuzuki's death, she would never want anything to do with me ever again. It's better this way._

Knowing she would not be going back to sleep, Rin crawled from underneath the covers and changed into something more appropriate. While undressed, Rin's eyes fell on the cursive _CAE_ burned onto her forearm. Physical proof that she had at one time been property of the Cinderella Academy of the Equinox Continent. A constant reminder that her own father had sold her into what was practically slavery. Rin sometimes forgot the burned inscription was there. She hated seeing it whenever she made the mistake of looking at her bare arm and being forced to recall that this had not always been her life.

Rin grabbed the pendent Nero had given her back when Rin was someone else who lived an altogether different life, rubbed her thumb over it as she allowed herself for just a moment to remember what they had and what could have been in a different world, and tucked it away in her pocket. She had loved and lost. Now she loved in vain. This was the life of a Juliet. Even though she did not believe in the goddess nor the future the Sisters predicted in the stars, Rin was not stupid enough to deny that the Sisters had been right when they promised Rin would have no happy ending.

With the decision to begin preparing breakfast before the Alice servants could wake, Rin slipped out of Miku's room and treaded down the hall. She tiptoed down the stairs as she took the path that would lead her towards the kitchen. Rin expected to pass through the parlor on her way. What she did not expect was to find somebody else sitting in the parlor. Someone Rin knew was not too happy about her existence.

Rin heard Mrs. Hatsune before she saw her. It was as Rin was quietly darting through the parlor that a lamp suddenly flicked on. The Juliet nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard the woman speak.

"Why am I not surprised to see the little rat scurrying about in the middle of the night?" Mrs. Hatsune wore a soft pink nightgown, and she reclined in the chair as if she had not been able to sleep and had chosen to spend the night sitting somewhat comfortably in the parlor.

Why the parlor, Rin didn't know. It was the least comfortable looking room in the whole mansion. The purpose of the parlor was to entertain guests while showing off how well this family had it made. Wallpaper made of gold ribbons and carnations twisting and turning into a beautiful, complex pattern; furniture made of finer leather than what Master Tonio had in his office at the academy; and all kinds of fragile knick knacks Rin dare not look at for fear she would break them if she merely breathed on them – this was not Rin's top choice of places to pass the time.

Yet here Mrs. Hatsune was, sitting in one of her fancy chairs and glaring at Rin as if the Juliet was a disgusting bug she wanted to squash but didn't because she didn't want to ruin her new shoes.

One look at the woman, and it was obvious where Miku inherited her looks. Same turquoise hair, same blue eyes, and same pink lips. Yet those same features that were beautiful on Miku's innocent face were twisted and ugly on Mrs. Hatsune's sneering features.

"What?" she spat when all Rin did was stare at the women as her heartrate returned to normal. "Don't you have anything to say for yourself, Juliet?"

Finding her voice, Rin simply responded, "I woke early and decided to prepare Miku's and my breakfast before the Alices awoke so that they would not have to rush to cook for us before we leave."

Mrs. Hatsune lifted her chin higher. Rin wondered if the woman did this so she would have to look down on Rin. Either way, it worked.

"It's your fault my once beautiful daughter has become a disgusting lard of excess flesh and unsightly pudge," she accused as if there was no doubt about it.

"With all due respect, ma'am," Rin began slowly, "Miku's diet was purely her choosing. I did not encourage it."

"Yet you did not discourage it either while you followed her around, did you?"

"It was her choice to make."

"I can't believe I fought to have you be the one to protect my daughter lest she have another fainting spell, and yet you let her eat herself into the unsightly form she is today."

Face growing hot, Rin curled her fingers into fists and said through clenched teeth, "Slim or not, Miku is an exceptionally lovely woman. The extra weight she chooses to carry does not make her any less beautiful. As long as she's happy with herself, does it matter how she looks?"

Narrowing her eyes, Mrs. Hatsune replied, "I'm not stupid, you ignorant girl. I know Miku broke off her engagement to Lord Shion for you. Why she would make such a foolish decision, I don't know. However, I do know that she will one day wake up and realize her mistake. Miku is my daughter, and she will ultimately go back to the foundation of the world I have taught her since she was able to walk. Miku is destined for greatness, and you are destined for ruin. When she realizes this, Miku will let go of all the things that put a target on her back. That includes you, little rat."

There was so much Rin wanted to say, but she bit her tongue. Right or wrong, Mrs. Hatsune had a point. Miku did make a mistake in breaking off her engagement to Lord Shion, especially for Rin. Although Miku and Lord Shion did not agree in their view of Cinderellas, that did not make the marriage a poor choice. No matter what Miku thought about Rin and her fellow Juliets, that did nothing to change the Juliets' status in the world.

Perhaps if Miku did marry Lord Shion and became lady of the Idun District, she would have had the chance to make a difference and perhaps even fight for better living conditions for Juliets. It likely might have met opposition with her husband, but Rin knew Miku wasn't the type to backdown so easily. Now with that match terminated, possibly forever, Miku was back to having the little influence she maintained as an unmarried Cinderella who had yet to work her way up to higher status. There was nothing Rin had to offer Miku. She knew it and so did Mrs. Hatsune.

Now the question remained when Miku would know it.

"As you are my daughter's possession," Mrs. Hatsune said in a tone that made Rin want to squirm where she stood, "I have no say in how you are treated and what shall ultimately become of you. However, I will not allow that to stop me from voicing my opinions of you. If push comes to shove, I will not allow anything to stop me from saving my daughter from your influence if the risks of associating with you become too high for her. I have protected Miku from your kind her entire life. Her not being a child anymore does not change that she is still my daughter whom I will protect at all costs."

Not knowing what to say, Rin bowed her head as if to submit to Mrs. Hatsune's words. However, Rin did not break eye contact. Rin would feign respect, but she would also show that she refused to be so easily intimidated.

Rin had given up her sense of self-respect and did whatever it took to stay alive once. It was something she had no intentions of ever doing again. Especially for a woman who was too blinded by pride and her sense of what was right to see the beauty in her own daughter finding who she was and fitting into that identity she was making for herself.

It appeared Mrs. Hatsune could see the challenge in Rin's eyes, for she neither looked away nor blinked. For a moment too long, the two maintained eye contact. If Rin could win a battle against Master Tonio, she knew she could win a battle against this woman.

Fate decided that neither would be the winner. After what had been no more than five minutes, a maid walked into the room. "Mrs. Hatsune—" she began but cut herself off when she saw Rin inside the parlor with the lady of the house.

Both Cinderella and Juliet looked away from each other to stare at the Alice. She fidgeted for a moment before trying again, "Mrs. Hatsune, would you like me to prepare your morning tea?"

"I would much appreciate it." Although Mrs. Hatsune spoke to the Alice, her attention returned to Rin. "Make some for my daughter as well. I'm sure she would like a cup before her flight."

"Yes, m'lady."

After the Alice had gone, Rin again offered another faux nod of respect. Mrs. Hatsune said nothing as Rin walked out of the parlor and finally continued her journey to the kitchen. In a couple of hours, Miku and Rin would be free from the woman's influence for a few days.

It was the inevitable return that had Rin's stomach prematurely tying itself into knots.

* * *

_I don't remember signing up to be anyone's errand girl._

Meiko shivered and brought her coat higher up to cover her face. It was particularly windy, and for some goddess forsaken reason, Meiko didn't think to bring her scarf. She thought the fur inside her hood would help keep her face warm, but she had been wrong about worse things.

"So, Tonio never intended to tell anyone?" Hio asked Kiyoteru as the three of them traveled to town. The combined group needed some supplies to hold them over until their next course of action was planned, and Meiko, Hio, and Kiyoteru somehow got stuck with the errand.

"His plan was to put an end to the Benevolence's attempt to infiltrate Artemis before it could really begin," Kiyoteru answered, placing his hands behind his head. "I was never completely on board, but Tonio is the leader. I just do what he says."

"Even if his ideas are stupid?" Meiko questioned, prompting Hio to mutter, "You're one to talk."

"I'm not afraid to challenge my godfather if push comes to shove," Kiyoteru replied, "but at the end of the day, what he says goes. On the upside, at least he's right most of the time."

"This wouldn't be one of those 'most of the times,' would it?"

"Of course not. It was wishful thinking to stop the Benevolence before they could sneak into Artemis."

"And now everyone has signed up for a battle they probably didn't want to fight." Meiko snuggled further into her coat as best as she could, but the attempt was futile.

Seeing her struggle to keep warm, Hio removed his extra scarf and offered it to Meiko. She bared her teeth as if to tell him to take it back, but he narrowed his eyes and kept his hand with the scarf outstretched. With both a muttered curse and a thanks, Meiko accepted the scarf and wrapped it around the lower half of her face.

"It was a nice hope, but an unrealistic one," Kiyoteru agreed. "Part of me wonders who would not have agreed to join the cause had they known what they were truly signing up for, but the rest of me knows there is no point worrying about it now. We're all here till the end, whether or not we like it."

"How did the others react to learning the truth?" Hio asked, his brows knit with concern, as they entered the town.

Like most towns within the Winter Continent during the sunless winter months, lit lanterns were scattered throughout the streets to light the paths for residents and travelers. The stone buildings lined the snowy streets, and bundled people went about their daily tasks. There were a few people who traveled on a snow bike, but most people traveled on foot.

"Oh, Ona had a few choice words for Tonio," Kiyoteru answered, his eyes widened as if he vividly recalled what, exactly, Ona's few choice words were. "The others were more or less struck speechless. I don't think it's going to really process for them until later tonight if no later than tomorrow morning."

"I remember when I first learned the truth," Hio muttered. "I was in denial for days. . . ."

"It doesn't sound real to begin with," Meiko mumbled. "There are others out there, and they want to seize control of Artemis? Who are these others? How are they out there? Why are they so interested in us?"

"According to legends," Kiyoteru felt the need to remind Meiko, "Artemis isn't the first planet humans have dwelt on."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Meiko rolled her eyes. "The goddess carried the purest humanity had to offer away and brought us to this planet, and—"

A scream tore through the air, interrupting Meiko. The three came to an abrupt halt at the sound of the scream and turned their attention towards the cry. About seven or eight barely dressed girls were running away.

Meiko looked from what they were running and sucked in a sharp breath. These girls were running away from a brothel. There was only one of the three castes that could be found in what Meiko always called the House of Whores.

None of those Juliets looked to be over the age fourteen. It was possible their families sold them to hopefully earn enough to survive the winter. The girls wouldn't be touched until they were of age, but that didn't mean they wouldn't receive any training until their day came. When they were old enough, their innocence would be stolen from them. It wasn't unusual or even rare to hear about girls attempting to escape the brothels in which they were kept, yet Meiko had never witnessed it until now.

Seeing some large men chasing after the girls, Hio lunged forward as if to stop them. However, Meiko's reflexes were better, and she took hold of Hio before he could get far out of her reach. They made eye contact, and Hio reluctantly nodded as a promise he wouldn't go anywhere.

Instead of letting go of Hio, Meiko clung to him like a lifeline. She slid her eyes towards Kiyoteru, but the man's demeanor was unreadable. Heart in her throat, Meiko joined the crowd on the streets as they watched the pathetic scene unfold.

These large men caught some of the girls, threw them over their shoulder, and carried the girls kicking and screaming back inside the brothel. Many were crying loud enough to pierce into Meiko's soul, reminding her of things she wanted to forget. Only two of the girls were fast enough to not get captured.

Kiyoteru swore, and Hio looked away. After a moment passed, Meiko saw what her companions saw and also lost the ability to breathe. Another man, one who was smaller and possibly unable to capture and carry a girl back, loaded a crossbow.

It happened so quickly.

The arrow flew, and the girl closer to him was down without so much as a silent scream.

Before Meiko could process this, the man reloaded his weapon and took the other girl out just as quickly.

Scarlet began to pool around the now motionless bodies. The other girls, those who were captured, watched these series of events unfold and ceased their screaming. All but one kept up her fight as they were dragged back inside.

Life within the town slowly resumed. The people again went about their business. More men exited the brothel and walked in the direction indicated by the man with the crossbow. The bodies of those young girls were picked up and carried away. Within minutes, the only proof that what Meiko saw was real was the dark red liquid freezing onto the concrete walkway.

For a moment, all the three did was stand and stare. The townspeople had already moved on. It wasn't until Hio tried to gently pry Meiko's hand from his wrist that Meiko realized she gripped the man so tightly it was possible she cut off the blood flow to his hand.

Simultaneously, Meiko, Hio, and Kiyoteru regained somewhat of their previous composure. Looking at each other, the three agreed without words that it was time to move on. None of them talked again for the rest of their trip.

* * *

Most people didn't think to look for something that hid in plain sight. It was why Cul didn't feel too paranoid walking down the streets of the Diane District's capitol. Besides, she cut off most of her hair and wore men's clothes. In a lot of ways, this was no different than all the times she pretended to be a boy so she could participate in those fancy and overly glamorized balls the Cinderella Academy used to throw. She had donned the disguise so many times, it was almost like second nature to pretend to be male again.

Except now the only price if she was caught was her life.

Even more than a week after the Thorns infiltrated the Cinderella Academy, the names and faces of those who lost their lives appeared on the screens above Cul's head. She wished the city had gone back to displaying its advertisements. Seeing all the smiling faces of people now dead gave Cul a sinking feeling in her gut she did not like to experience.

Especially the sinking feeling that presented itself whenever Cul saw the face of Yuzuki Gakuko, the Cinderella she had murdered in cold blood.

It was one thing to kill a nameless Cinderella. It was easy to seek blood from the kind that senselessly killed Cul's best friend. It was barely a thought to send the arrow flying.

Then the arrow met its mark, and the girl who had never done anything to Cul dropped dead.

The Yuzuki family offered a large reward for the capture and execution of their beloved daughter and sister's murderer. Most families of those who died in the invasion did the same. Yet somehow, Cul felt as if hers was the wanted ad that would be the only one answered.

Cul left witnesses. She shouldn't have, but she did. Now Cul could do nothing but wait for them to turn her in.

It shouldn't have been difficult to add two more names to the casualty list. Rin was a traitor. The Cinderella for whom Rin was willing to give her life had nothing to offer Cul. She should have killed them. What Cul should have done in those final moments before retreat was called was make sure there were no witnesses left to her crimes.

Yet Cul let them both live. Hitting Rin with the blaster was an accident; no matter how angry Cul was, she could never take it out on Rin. Letting the Cinderella survive so she could possibly help stop Rin's bleeding before the fellow Juliet lost too much blood was a potential mistake on so many levels. Cul didn't know if the Cinderella would care enough about Rin to try to save her. Even if the Cinderella did try, Cul didn't know if she was successful and if Rin was still alive.

For all Cul knew, she killed an innocent, accidentally killed a former friend, and left a witness who would gladly turn in Cul.

She couldn't bring herself to confess this to the Thorns, choosing instead to let them believe Cul had killed all three girls.

Sometimes, Cul believed keeping up this lie only made things worse for her.

Pushing the thoughts aside, Cul entered the old, seemingly abandoned home at the end of the poor side of the city. This was why her male disguise was so necessary: fewer people messed with a boy than they did a lone woman. Cul having a blood rose tattooed onto her wrist only guaranteed that anyone who dare hurt her wouldn't have to worry about repercussions.

Cul made sure nobody else was about and looking at her, stepped inside, and walked into the main room. The windows were open to let the air circulate in an attempt to keep the summer heat from suffocating them. A few of her fellow Thorns were lying on their stomachs in the middle of the floor.

"Back from your daily walk?" Nana asked, cracking open an eye to look at her former coworker.

For as sweet as the greenette appeared, Cul now knew that although Nana's bark was nonexistent, Nana had one hell of a bite. When Nana shot Zola Mew in the head and believed to have killed the lady until Lady Zola awoke from her coma the day the Thorns attacked the academy, Nana treated the heinous act as if it was some great accomplishment. It was enough to make Cul wonder if this girl had a single ounce of regret in her body.

"I don't know how you can just laze around all day," Cul answered as she slipped off her boots. "Is it really so nice to lay around and do absolutely nothing sunrise to sunset?"

Nana flipped onto her back. "Considering we used to work twelve hour shifts six days a week, I'm surprised you don't want to lie around all day and do nothing."

"You need to lighten up, Cul," Clara, the other Juliet in the room, muttered before shoving a fistful of what smelled to be coffee beans into her mouth. Unlike most Juliets Cul knew, Clara was on the heavier side, and it most likely had to do with all the snacks Clara ate throughout the day.

Clara had brown skin and dark brown hair cut to her chin. Extra weight wrapped around most of her body, giving her form a nice set of curves. Whereas most Juliets were malnourished, Clara had come from a bakery in which the owners were generous enough to let her eat the pastries that would otherwise have been thrown out.

Why Clara chose to revolt against the people who kept her well fed and, as far as Clara had revealed, didn't abuse her, Cul didn't know. She didn't imagine Clara was a big fan of stealing food, but she was successful at it. There was no other explanation why she was always eating something.

Although a part of Cul did envy Clara's well fed body, Cul found herself responding, "I think you're the one who needs to 'lighten up,' Clara."

Clara screwed up her face into a sour expression. "I swear, you always act like you sat on a broom handle and it's been stuck up there ever since."

Rolling her eyes for effect, Cul announced that she wanted to be left alone for a few minutes before climbing the stairs. She walked down the hall and came to the last room at the end. The Juliet guarding the door – Cul was sure her name was Arika – simply nodded before letting Cul through for her daily visit.

Ia and Lapis looked up as Cul entered the room and softly closed the door behind her. As with each of her visits, Cul offered both Juliets a friendly smile. No different from other times before, both Juliets frowned at Cul and looked away.

After Ia had try to flee during the attack on the fundraiser, she was captured by the Thorns and threatened to be executed if she didn't surrender. Similarly, Lapis was another Juliet at the academy who wasn't initiated by the Thorns but got caught in mix when she was at the wrong place at the wrong time, that wrong place and wrong time having been watching Cul and Nana flee from what everyone believed to be Cul's three murders. The choice presented to each Juliet was simple: join the Thorns, or die.

Not that either Ia or Lapis really joined the Thorns. To them, death would have been far more preferable. They almost got their way had not Cul intervened.

 _"They'll come around. You'll see,"_ Cul had insisted, not wanting to lose any other friends even at the cost of kidnapping them and holding them hostage. Gumi's death still haunted Cul, and Rin's questionable fate sometimes kept Cul up at night. At least there were two friends Cul could account for, even if they no longer held a favorable opinion of her.

"How's the outside world?" Ia asked, her eyes trained on her toes. She and Lapis were kept in a clean room with decent beds and a window with a view of the abandoned building next door, but they weren't allowed to leave it. Twice a day, someone would give them a meal. There was a pot in the corner for the girls to relieve themselves. It wasn't the worst prison, but it wasn't the most dignified either. Cul couldn't blame the girls for their sour moods whenever she saw them during her daily visits.

"It's nice out today," Cul answered as she shifted from foot to foot. "Not a cloud in the sky. Hot as hell though."

"Hmm." Ia said nothing more, and Lapis never spoke at all.

The Juliets had made it clear from the start that they did not approve of Cul's joining the Thorns, and they most certainly did not approve of her murdering a Cinderella. Initially, they argued that this was not who Cul really was, and Cul foolishly insisted that the Cinderella deserved to die for her tattoo. Now that her former friends refused to speak to Cul, the red head was forced to realize that perhaps choosing to defend her pride was not the wisest choice she could have made.

There was so much Cul wanted to say, so much she wanted to apologize for, she found that she couldn't speak at all. So, like all the other days, she sat on the floor while Ia and Lapis sat on the bed and told them about her walk. Not because they cared what Cul saw or Cul wanted to tell them about the mundane things going on in the outside world, but for no reason other than Cul wanted to believe that she could still talk to them.

Cul only spoke for a few minutes before a knock on the door interrupted her and Arika's voice came from the other side. "Galaco's back. She wants every Thorn who isn't babysitting deadweight in the main room right now. Word is there's an important update to the cause."

 _The cause that promises Gumi didn't die for nothing._ Cul wanted to tell Ia and Lapis those words, but she didn't. The first and last time she tried, both girls insisted this wasn't what Gumi would have wanted. It was the same argument Rin made that nightmare of a day that wasn't long ago yet felt as if it happened in another life. Regardless, it was the only reason Cul had for doing any of the things she did.

With a soft farewell, Cul walked out of the room. Neither Ia nor Lapis responded to her leaving. It was as if Cul meant nothing to them.

If that was the case, Cul didn't doubt she deserved it.

Cul descended the stairs to find the main room now filled with nearly a dozen Juliets. Nana and Clara sat by the door, Clara now munching on a bag of almonds. There were other Juliets Cul sort of knew but didn't bother to learn the names of present as well. Galaco stood in the center of the room, chin held high as she scanned all who were present. Sometimes Cul wondered if Galaco was in charge of the Thorns or just high up on the hierarchy.

"We need to act again before what happened at the Cinderella Academy of the Equinox Continent becomes nothing more than a memory," was how Galaco chose to open her speech. "We need to prove to everyone that this one time was not a fluke and that we can do it again just as easily as and even better than before."

"Great idea, boss," Clara said over her mouthful, "but one problem: our numbers are still too low, not to mention the casualties we suffered. We were barely able to cause an impression at that Cinderella school. If not for the element of surprise, we wouldn't have gotten very far at all."

"Valid point, bottomless pit," Galaco replied. Clara glared at the name but said nothing about it.

To the rest of the room, Galaco asked, "So, how do we increase our numbers?"

There were no immediate responses. Cul watched as her fellow Juliets shifted from foot to foot. Nobody had an answer they deemed worth sharing.

"Really now?" Galaco frowned. "Nobody?"

"As most of us who worked on the attack from the inside can tell you," Nana answered suddenly and loudly, "what motivated us to join was unjustly losing our dear friend and fellow Juliet, Gumi. She was executed for a crime a Cinderella committed."

Galaco snapped and pointed at Nana. "Exactly. Nobody likes a senseless murder. Especially the murder of someone in a minority. Look how quickly so many of you joined the cause as a result of your dear friend's loss. Imagine if we could recreate that on a grander scale."

While Galaco let her words hang in the air, Cul felt her blood turn to ice. It appeared none of the other Juliets knew what Galaco meant, for they all looked confused instead of concerned. Some whispered amongst themselves, but most of it was to ask it the other had any idea what Galaco was suggesting.

Cul knew what Galaco meant, and she didn't like it one bit.

"You can't be serious?" Cul whispered, hoping against hope that Galaco was simply messing around and this was nothing more than a sick joke.

Although Cul didn't intend to be heard, Galaco must have caught what Cul said because she locked eyes with the red head.

When Galaco smirked at Cul, it was all the confirmation Cul needed to know that Galaco was indeed serious.


	4. Chapter 4

After experiencing the luxury of riding in a hovercraft designed for someone as prestige as the lord of the Idun District, Miku found the typical passenger hovercrafts her family utilized more or less lacking. There were no separate rooms for spending the night or a lounge in which to gather with one's fellow passengers to talk or play games. This hovercraft had nothing for its passengers save a few rows of seats comfortable enough to sit in for more than a few hours but not much room to stretch one's legs or any space to get up and walk around if one was getting a little restless.

 _At least,_ Miku decided, _we're renting this one out so there's nobody else here with us._

It took far more of Miku's time than she wanted to spend arguing with her mother about allowing Miku to visit Luka without an escort. For some reason, Rin wasn't good enough to accompany Miku on the trip. It didn't make sense to Miku that Rin was specifically requested by her mother back at the academy but now it seemed that there was no reason in all of Artemis for Miku and Rin to even be within the same room.

At the thought of the Juliet, Miku looked over to see Rin reading. It was rather odd almost any time Miku looked over at Rin, the blonde had her nose stuck in a book. Sometimes Miku wondered if it was because Rin enjoyed reading so much or because Rin didn't know what to do with herself if she didn't have an immediate task at hand.

"I appreciate your coming with me," Miku said, eyes traveling back to look out the window. Somehow, nothing about the world below was beautiful to Miku. Even the array of colors was lackluster. "I knew you and Gakuko didn't really know each other or talk or anything, but . . . I'm just glad I don't have to be alone."

It was perhaps a few minutes later before Rin replied, "You aren't going to be alone, Miku, even if I didn't come with you. We are on our way to meet with Ms. Megurine, after all."

"Yes, but . . . ," Miku reached out to take Rin's hand but stopped herself before her own hand could get far from her armrest, "I, um, I suppose I meant I don't have to spend any part of this process alone. If you weren't here right now, I would be alone. I would be alone every night while I'm gone, sleeping in a room by myself. Then I would be alone again on the trip back. With you here, I don't have to spend any time alone if I don't want to."

Rin seemed to consider this before she nodded. It was the only response she gave. No other words traveled past her lips as she resumed reading.

So much of Miku wanted to ask Rin what was wrong. She wanted to know why the Juliet was acting strangely. Their relationship had not been this tense since they became friends, and now Miku wasn't even sure if they were still friends considering the ways they had been interacting.

Yet Miku again chose to say nothing. When Rin was ready, she would talk about whatever it was that bothered her. Miku had to have faith that if she waited instead of trying to break down Rin's walls, Rin would let her in when the time was right.

The rest of the ride was spent in an uncomfortable silence Miku never would have before imagined between Rin and her. When the hovercraft landed, Rin excused herself to get the bags. Miku offered to help, but Rin shook her head and told her to not keep Luka waiting.

Frowning but not arguing, Miku did what Rin suggested. Miku took a deep breath as she prepared to exit from the hovercraft. When the doors opened, Miku squinted as the sunlight poured in and washed over her features.

When her eyes adjusted, Miku saw a small field to descend to get her feet back on the earth. Men and women wandered about the premises, preparing the next hovercraft for its takeoff a couple of hours from now. Luka stood a few yards away from the craft.

Overcome with joy at seeing her former classmate and friend, Miku scurried down the decline and rushed towards Luka, who ran to meet Miku halfway. The two Cinderellas collided, and they held each other in a tight embrace. Miku didn't know when they started crying, but she was aware of Luka's and her tears when she felt small, hot droplets of liquid splash onto her bare neck.

"I have missed you so much!" Luka broke the hug and held Miku at arm's length. "Oh, you are as beautiful as ever! How have you been holding up since I saw you last?"

Right then, Miku wanted to fall into Luka's arms and tell her everything that had happened since they had last seen each other and how Miku had been trying with questionable success to handle it. She wanted to finally cry into someone's arms over witnessing Gakuko's cold murder and fearing that she was going to watch Rin's death next. A larger part of Miku wanted to tell Luka about Rin's confession and ask the pinkette what she thought about it, but Miku knew she shouldn't speak the words she couldn't say to Rin to another. There was so much built up in Miku she wanted to get out. Pieces of her wanted to fully confess to every stress, minor or major, that led her to binge.

However, Miku didn't do any of those things. What she did was take a deep breath, hold herself together, and suggest, "Perhaps we should discuss this over lunch?"

"An excellent idea." Luka frowned. "Although I don't know if I'll be able to eat much at all."

"Well, I'll eat more than enough for the both of us." Miku tried to pat her belly and smile mischievously, but she didn't have to see herself to know the actions didn't have the effect she desired.

Smiling sadly, Luka shook her head and said, "Don't put yourself down to make me feel better. Besides, I know how much you love dessert. I won't shame you for showing that love."

 _It isn't you who I'm worried about shaming me._ Deciding to not say anything on the subject, Miku simply smiled and nodded. There would be other times to talk about this, or at least Miku hoped there would be.

It was at this time Rin began to descend from the hovercraft. Bags in hand, Rin was saying, "What do you think about—" before cutting herself off at the sight of Luka.

For a moment, Luka and Rin stared at each other. Miku looked back and forth between the Cinderella and the Juliet. The memory of Luka slapping Rin across the face played in Miku's mind. Based on the looks the other two women were giving each other, it was clear they remembered as well. Luka hugged herself, and Rin hardened her gaze.

"Erm, welcome, Juliet," Luka said, her eyes now trained towards her shoes as if it was them she greeted.

"Rin," the Juliet corrected, her tone so sharp Luka flinched as if slapped.

"Rin," Luka repeated, looking anywhere and everywhere except Rin. "Would you like some help carrying your bags? I can call someone to assist you as you transport them from this hovercraft to mine."

"That won't be necessary," Miku cut in before Rin could reply. "It's only the two bags – we weren't planning on staying long after the funeral. If you could just tell Rin where to take the bags . . ."

"Oh, yes. Right." Luka turned around, rose her voice to get someone's attention, and beckoned another person to approach.

A woman with rich dark skin and dark purple hair came forward. She wore a simple pink and purple dress that gave away her status as a servant, but her cerulean butterfly tattoo indicated that she was an Alice. When she was within reach, the woman stopped and bowed her head towards Luka. She opened her mouth to speak, but her demeanor froze when she saw something. Her icy blue eyes were locked onto something behind them, and Miku slowly turned her head to see what caught the Alice's interest.

Rin met Miku's gaze before she returned her attention towards the Alice. The way Rin held the bags exposed her blood rose tattoo. Based on Luka's previous thoughts and feelings towards Juliets, Miku swallowed as she wondered what those who served under Luka's family thought of the lower caste.

"Merli," Luka began, either oblivious to the woman's surprise or choosing instead to ignore it, "take, um, Rin to the loading bay. Once everything is put away, find me and Ms. Hatsune having tea in the port gazebo. You two are more than welcome to join us."

It took more than a moment, but Merli found her voice. "Yes, m'lady. Will that be all?"

"That will be all, thank you."

Nodding again, Merli looked towards Rin and slowly said, "Right this way . . . Rin."

As if made of clockwork, Merli spun towards the other direction and began walking away. She didn't turn around to see if Rin followed behind. For a moment, Rin didn't. It was as Miku was about to ask Rin what was wrong when the Juliet finally trailed after the Alice. The two briskly walked away, and Miku dreaded to think what the Alice might say or do to Rin when they were alone.

"I'm a terrible person."

Luka's comment dragged Miku's attention away from Rin and onto her fellow Cinderella.

Wringing her fingers, Luka added, "She probably hates me. I couldn't blame her if I wanted to. I would hate me, too."

What Miku wanted to say was, "Rin doesn't hate you," but since Miku did not know Rin's feelings towards Luka, what she said instead was, "It isn't too late to apologize."

"How could I apologize?" Luka shook her head. "I was rude to her. I slapped her without remorse. She more than likely blames me for Gumi's execution – I know Rin and Gumi were dear friends. Gumi told me a little about the Juliets with whom she was closest. Rin's name came up the most. I always suspected your Juliet was Rin, but now that I know . . ."

"Luka." Miku stepped forward and took Luka's hands in her own. "Just the fact you're showing regret already proves how sorry you are. All you have to do now is tell Rin those words. I know it's easier said than done, but I know you can do it."

Luka kept shaking her head, tears now rising up and falling down her pale cheeks. "What difference will it make? I know she won't forgive me. Not that I deserve it in the first place."

"Whether or not Rin forgives you is her own business," Miku replied. "Your only job is to tell her that you're sorry. That's all you have to do."

"I can't. I can't." Now Luka began to cry, repeating "I can't" the whole time as her tears fell faster and harder.

Not knowing what else to do, Miku pulled Luka into a hug and let the pinkette sob onto her shoulder. Luka wasted no time burying her face in the crook of Miku's neck. The only other thing Miku could think to do was rub slow, small circles on Luka's back until her friend cried out all the tears she was going to shed.

* * *

As soon as they were no longer surrounded by witnesses, Merli turned around and advanced towards Rin. There was no hesitance for Rin to drop her and Miku's bags. The two girls collided with each other, holding each other in a tight embrace as each began to cry.

"Oh, my God, Rin," Merli said, holding Rin close to her. "I heard about Nero. I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry. I wish there was something I could have done for you."

Not having a response, Rin clutched onto Merli. Back in another lifetime, Rin and the Alice used to sit with their displays next to each other and sold their work to travelers passing through their village. Merli was the closest thing to a friend Rin ever had in the village, and she knew Merli felt the same when she confessed as much the day she announced that she was leaving. After their parting, Rin never expected to see Merli again.

"Tell me, Rin," Merli began, breaking the hug and smiling through her tears as she brushed some of Rin's hair out of her face, "how have you been? Well, other than losing Nero. I heard about the accident shortly after it happened, but from then on, there was no news of you to speak of."

"It's a long story I will have to share with you another time," Rin replied, suddenly hyper aware of the burn mark on her exposed forearm. "How about you? I know you were returning home to your parents, but how did you end up here, working under Ms. Megurine in the Feyre District?"

Merli sighed. "The same tragic fall from grace you hear about every other well-off family. Father gambled away all the family money and funds, killed himself over the financial ruin, and Mother died of a broken heart not even a year later."

The cold way Merli said it gave Rin chills. She knew Merli never forgave her parents for selling her sister, but she wouldn't have imagined Merli would hold such a grudge. Then again, Rin wasn't convinced she would have been too upset either if she somehow got news that her own father no longer lived.

"Fortunately," Merli continued, shrugging, "I had found work before all our money was lost. My safety net might have been taken away, but I was making enough to feel secure. I took job after job in pursuit of building my career, working my way up from a cleaning lady to a cook to a head of maids. About a year ago, I found the Megurines. A rather prejudice family, no surprise considering both mother and daughter are Cinderellas, but they pay extremely well and give me the responsibilities I desire. All in all, I consider myself to be in a good place."

Picking up the bags and carrying them as she and Merli resumed their trip, Rin quickly told Merli the main points of what had happened in her life since Nero's passing. Rin told Merli about being sold by her father to the Cinderella Academy, about how she became a shadow of sorts to Miku, and about the attack on the academy that resulted in the funeral their respective Cinderellas prepared to attend. What Rin did not share, however, was her involvement with Master Tonio, her relationship with Gumi, and the part Rin played in helping the Thorns infiltrate the school in the first place.

Although Merli wasn't classist, Rin knew Merli wouldn't be the kind of person to use violence as a means to fight for Juliet rights. Had Rin not been overwhelmed with everything that happened leading up to her agreement to help, Rin would have warned Master Tonio of the upcoming attack. Only Rin did agree to help the Thorns and warned nobody of their plans. It didn't matter that Rin was unaware what the true intents were, not when she shouldn't have been so foolish as to believe the Thorns wanted nothing more than to assassinate Mistress Prima. That was what the Juliets inside the academy wanted. The Thorns couldn't have cared less about Mistress Prima. Even now, Rin knew Mistress Prima was still roaming free, untouched by the attack Rin thought was meant to end her life.

Now knowing Mistress Prima had been in on the attack the whole time only further proved how foolish Rin had been. Rin was the one who planted the bomb that made it easier for the Thorns to infiltrate the academy for whatever purpose they deemed the attack necessary. People were needlessly killed because Rin helped let their murderers in. Ms. Yuzuki, who had been nothing but kind to Rin, was killed by Cul, who Rin had previously considered a friend. Everything that had happened that day was Rin's fault, and all the innocent blood was on Rin's hands and nobody else's.

Those were the things boiling in the back of Rin's mind, but she shared none of it with Merli. The burden was Rin's to bear, weighing her down and making each and every day since a challenge to live through. If Merli knew the truth about Rin, she would be just as repulsed by Rin as Rin was of herself.

That was why Rin's heart skipped a beat when Merli announced, "Whoa, you certainly have been through a lot. Well, at least you and I are both attending our mistresses to this funeral. There will be plenty of time for you and me to catch up!"

* * *

The governess of the Winter Continent had been reached by the head of the Benevolence, or the "Empress," as Meiko heard she was called. This was some of the information Luki had uncovered back when he was an undercover spy infiltrating the governess's mansion as a butler. Apparently, the Empress had promised Governess Lumi all of Artemis in exchange for helping her seize the planet for her control.

"Only," Tonio said after Luki had explained what he had learned during his time spying on the governess, "this so-called 'Empress' promised Prima the same thing. Considering I doubt any of these women helping the Benevolence are aware who's also on this team, let alone in contact with each other, they are unaware their precious empress is playing them all for fools."

Luki nodded. "As far as Governess Lumi is aware, only the Winter Continent has teamed up with the Benevolence."

"Only there's someone from every continent on the empress's side," Kaito muttered.

Without Kaito's saying more, Meiko was reminded of the assassination attempt he told them about during one of their initial meetings to get to know each other. In turn, nobody from Meiko's team talked about Rei. It was still too soon, but Tonio's team was more or less aware of the recent betrayal. Still, everyone shared information that was vital for all to know. Now that the trust was established, Luki finally shared the information he had collected all those months ago with the rest of the team.

Crossing her arms, Meiko leaned against the wall and looked at both Hio and Rinto. Neither of them wore readable expressions, but the way Hio pressed his back further into the wall he leaned against told Meiko enough. She slid her eyes over the others, and their expressions were just as masked.

"So," Meiko drawled, "what are we going to do? Kill the governess?"

"Sakine," Big Al said, his tone alone her only warning.

However, Meiko shrugged and continued, "We want to take out the people who have contact with the Benevolence, don't we? If we're going to stop a problem, it's best we go for the root."

"Yes, the root," Tonio agreed, "but your eyes are locked on the wrong target. The governess isn't the root here, but the Benevolence itself. If we're going to 'take out' anyone, it should be the empress."

"Which we need to plan how to find anyway," Kaito questioned, tilting his head up so that he would have to look down on Meiko, the only stance he would take whenever addressing her. "Instead of nipping away at the Benevolence's lackeys, we should use them as a ladder to the head of the Benevolence herself."

Not liking the way Kaito talked down to her, Meiko replied, "As if it's going to be that simple. From our knowledge, this empress has yet to meet anyone in person. Even if we found someone willing to give us directions to her freaking house, I doubt we would be invited inside for tea and cookies."

"Better than what you suggested."

"At least I'm offering real ideas here and not just assuming that by tossing in my two silver pieces, I'm contributing any to the cause."

"Please. What have you contributed to the cause other than setbacks and screw ups?"

Face burning hot, Meiko began, "Why you son of a—"

"That's enough!" Tonio snapped, and Meiko and Kaito went quiet.

Before anything else could be said, Luki let out a hearty laugh. Clutching his stomach, Luki laughed so hard he sank for the floor. All the others could do was watch him as if he were losing whatever was left of his mind.

When Luki had finally calmed down enough to speak again, all he said was, "This is going to be one very, very interesting mission."

Meiko looked at Kaito, growled in her throat when they made eye contact, and returned her attention to Luki. "What do you mean?"

"That's . . . what we were getting ready to tell you," Big Al said as he scratched the back of his neck. "We need Luki, as well as Tonio's and my best men, to go undercover."

"There's reason to believe the headmistress of the Cinderella Academy of the Winter Continent has been contacted as well," Tonio continued. "Luki's digging helps to confirm as much. Ona, we will need you to go back to school."

"Geez," Ona rolled her eyes, "not even a terrorist attack on my former school can keep me out of an academy. I can't escape getting educated."

"You will be fine," Tonio said, waving a dismissive hand in the air. "Your leg healed, didn't it?"

"Okay," Meiko said, eyes going back and forth between the older men, "but what does any of this have to do with Luki laughing like some kind of mental person?"

"Simple, my dear Meiko," Luki replied, his eyes locked onto hers, "of the men they wanted to send with me on this mission, Tonio picked Kaito, and Big Al picked you. I'm just laughing at the idea of you two working together when you both act the way you do."

Breath caught in her chest, Meiko looked at Kaito. He looked back at her. When Kaito narrowed his eyes, Meiko did the same to let him know she felt no differently.

They were going to work together, sure, but neither of them was going to like it.


	5. Chapter 5

Miku cried throughout the service. The last time Miku had been to a funeral, it was for her grandmother, and Miku had been eight. She couldn't cry then, not for a woman she had only met a handful of times, but this was different.

This room wasn't filled with a bunch of rich people too prideful to cry. No. There were many people in the church of multiple statuses – Miku didn't fail to notice the handful of Juliets wandering about not as servants or someone's escort, but as fellow mourners with the men, Cinderellas, and Alices in the room – and more people were bawling their eyes out than not crying at all.

Even the minister who led the service had to take a few moments to recompose himself on the pulpit. Gakuko was very loved, and it was painful for Miku to see just how everyone she had grown up with had been crippled by her loss. In a lot of ways, Miku felt like an imposter sitting in on a service for someone she didn't know as well as the others in the room did.

Luka must have felt the same, for after the service had concluded, she leaned close to Miku and whispered, "I can't imagine how any of these people took the news when they first heard what happened to Gakuko."

Unable to respond, Miku merely nodded her head. She tried to swallow, but the lump in her throat was too big. Turning around, Miku saw Rin and Merli sitting in the back, away from the crowd.

 _However awkward I felt,_ Miku thought as she stood to her feet, _it can't be anything compared to what those two must have felt the entire time._

As Miku and Luka were walking back to their respective escorts, two men stopped them in their path. They each had the same lavender hair and purple eyes Gakuko had. They were the same age as her, too.

It took Miku a second to connect the dots, but she knew who they were. Yukito and Io. Gakuko's triplet brothers.

"We're so glad you were able to make it today," one of them – Miku couldn't tell them apart – said.

"Gakuko told us a lot about you two," the other added. "She really loved you both. Often said she couldn't wait for us to meet her new friends. Such a shame she isn't here to see it."

Luka smiled sadly and replied, "Well, I'm sure Gakuko is looking down on us from the afterlife, watching this bittersweet meeting."

Both boys frowned, and it was the first one who stated, "Gakuko was an atheist."

Face turning a deep shade of red, Luka stammered, "Well, uh, what I mean is—"

Covering her mouth, Miku hopelessly watched the flustered Luka try with no success to recompose herself and recover. Miku couldn't think of anything to say to take the attention off Luka. All she could do was watch until Luka sighed in defeat and said she was sorry to the brothers.

Then they smiled, and then their smiles turned into chuckles. The first looked apologetically at Luka as the other said, "We were messing with you. Gakuko was more religious than the two of us combined, even if she mostly kept her beliefs to herself. We're sorry to have thrown you off like that."

For a moment, Luka looked at them with narrowed eyes. She silently huffed and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Crossing her arms, Luka looked away as if she thought that as long as she couldn't see the brothers, they were no longer there.

Not sure what else to do, Miku merely curtsied and introduced herself. "As you might already know, I am Hatsune Miku from the Venus District. It is a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance."

In return, the boys bowed. "I am Yuzuki Yukito," the first introduced as the second said, "Yuzuki Io, at your service."

Eyes trained onto Luka, Io insisted, "We really are sorry to make a fool out of you. My brother and I, um, have never been the best in tense situations."

"You can say that again," Luka replied, still refusing to look at either boy.

"So, uh," Miku held her hands together, "we are truly, truly sorry for your loss. I can't imagine what it must be like for you two to lose not only a sister, but a triplet sister."

"Gakuko was our better third, that's for sure," Yukito said, his and his brother's eyes downcast. "We still almost can't believe it happened."

"We tried to talk her into coming back home, but she wouldn't listen," Io added. "We should have just flown over there personally and dragged her back by the hair. Gakuko would have been furious with us, but at least she would still be alive."

"You couldn't have known this would be the outcome," Miku tried. "What happened isn't your fault."

"We know that." Io's eyes narrowed, and his brows tightly pinched together. "Whoever shot that arrow is at fault, and the fact that person is still roaming free is the biggest insult of them all."

Miku's spine went rigid. When questioned what happened shortly after the Cinderella Academy Attack, Miku was too emotional to give a coherent answer. Her concern over Rin took captive every single one of Miku's thoughts. All Miku could supply was that it was one of the academy's Juliets. It didn't occur to Miku until much later, after they had settled in Miku's home, that perhaps Rin knew which Juliet killed Gakuko and then tried to kill her.

Nobody considered asking Rin for her side of the story. If not for her own injuries, Rin might have been arrested and questioned as a criminal simply for her tattoo. Everything Rin knew about that day still remained unspoken.

Thinking this, Miku turned her attention towards Rin. The blonde made eye contact with Miku, and she frowned. Furrowing her brows, Rin silently asked what was wrong. Miku subtly shook her head. Before Rin could do anything else, Merli whispered in Rin's ear, and the two walked out of the church sanctuary.

"Is something the matter?" Yukito asked, frowning.

"Yes. I mean, no. I, um—" Miku shook her head. "I regret that I wasn't able to save her. I told Gakuko that she wouldn't die. I wish I hadn't been made into a liar."

"You were there, were you not?"

"I was," Miku answered, her arms coming up to give herself a small hug.

For a moment, Miku was sure the boys were going to ask Miku what she remembered happening and if she knew who ended their sister's life. Then Miku realized they planned to do none of those things. If anything, Io and Yukito both looked as if they felt sorrier for Miku than they did themselves.

"We must be going," Io said after a while. "There are quite a few guests here to honor Gakuko, and we want to make sure to thank everyone for coming."

"It was an honor meeting you two," Yukito added, bowing.

"The honor is all mine." Miku curtsied, and Luka managed to mutter a simple, polite farewell.

After the boys had gone, Luka turned to Miku and said, "I wish to go now."

"So do I. How does lunch sound? Are you craving anything?"

Luka sighed. "I don't know if I can eat."

"I don't know if I'll be able to stop," Miku mumbled. Due to her mother's restrictions, Miku couldn't emotionally eat much anymore. A small part of Miku wanted to take the opportunity while it was presented to her, but she decided to not force it.

"After we change, how about a walk through town so we can clear our heads?" Luka suggested.

Not having any better ideas, Miku replied, "I don't see why not."

* * *

Rin chewed on her lower lip. She didn't like the way those guys – Ms. Yuzuki's brothers, if their similar appearances meant anything – looked at Miku as if she knew something she refused to share. It wasn't Miku who knew anything, but Rin. If anyone asked Rin who killed Ms. Yuzuki, it would have become immediately clear that Rin was at the very least acquaintances with the culprit.

All the selfish parts of Rin were glad nobody questioned her about what happened. Once her connections to Cul were confirmed, it wouldn't have taken too much digging to find out all the other crimes Rin committed. Rin would be as good as dead if the truth ever came out.

Yet seeing the way those guys watched Miku as if she were the guilty one, Rin knew she would have gladly sacrificed herself if it ever came down to it as long as it meant keeping Miku safe.

"Rin, what's wrong?" Miku, who sat across from Rin, asked as the four of them traveled to a nearby restaurant. Nobody was really hungry, but they all agreed to getting something to eat for the sake of some form of normalcy. "You have been acting strangely since, well . . ."

Although Miku trailed off, Rin knew what her mistress meant. Since they reunited after the attack. Not that Miku had acted completely like herself either.

"Everything is fine, Miku," Rin said, offering a faux smile she hoped was convincing enough. It must have been, for Miku nodded as if she bought it and returned to her conversation with Ms. Megurine.

Tuning the Cinderellas out again, Rin returned to staring out the window. Merli sat by Rin's side, her eyes trained on the pattern she sowed. In a lot of ways, Rin was glad to see Merli again. In others, Rin didn't know if she should trust this woman. Merli and she lived vastly different lives back during their friendship in the village, and those days had long since passed. Neither was the same person anymore. Rin didn't know if Merli was someone worth trusting.

Then Rin felt a hand on top of hers. At first she thought it was Miku's, but looking down, Rin saw that the skin was a dark brown. She slid her gaze towards Merli, who still kept her eyes firmly locked on her pattern. Then Merli's hand slipped away. Tucked into Rin's palm was what felt to be a folded sheet of paper.

Certain nobody watched her, Rin slid the folded note into her dress pocket.

Since nobody else cared to make a suggestion, Miku told the carriage driver to take them to a noodle restaurant. After they entered the building and were seated by a window, Rin kept her fists planted firmly on the table to keep from reaching into her pocket to make sure Merli's note was still there. Her tightly curled fists must have raised some concern, for Miku placed one of her hands on top of Rin's. Slowly, Rin relaxed that hand. A second later, and Miku wrapped her fingers between Rin's and held the back of Rin's hand.

If Ms. Megurine or Merli had any thoughts on the tender touch between Cinderella and Juliet, they didn't comment. They certainly noticed, but both women acted as if they didn't. In a lot of ways, Rin was grateful to not be questioned on this simple form of affection.

There were lame attempts to make light conversation or small talk. When the waiter came to take their order, everyone requested what she wanted. After the orders were placed, silence again covered the table like a heavy blanket.

When an appropriate amount of time passed, Rin excused herself to use the restroom she had been searching for the moment the four women entered the restaurant.

Once inside the ladies' room with the door locked behind her, Rin pulled the folded sheet of paper Merli had given her from her pocket. Releasing a heavy sigh, Rin unfolded the paper with shaking hands. She held her breath as she read.

_I have to talk to you about something extremely important. I don't know if or when you and I will be alone and we can speak with each other in private, so we might need to make such a situation happen. Keep an eye out as well. Something's going on. Something big, and I don't like it._

That was all Merli's note said. Rin swallowed past the lump in her throat. _Something big is going on._ Merli had no idea.

Lunch consisted of everyone going through the motions. Only Miku ate every bite of her meal, and the others opted to put their leftovers in a bag for later. Not that Rin planned on eating later, but perhaps Miku would want to try what she ordered.

As the four made their way to the carriage, a shout echoing through the streets halted them in their tracks. Rin felt her heartrate skyrocket. There was a crowd forming a few yards away.

"What is going on?" Ms. Megurine asked nobody. In return, nobody answered.

Before anyone could do anything, Miku lurched forward. Ms. Megurine called after her, but Miku kept running towards the crowd. The instant she processed what was happening, Rin gave chase after Miku.

"What are you doing?!" Rin shouted when she was close enough for Miku to hear her. "You shouldn't rush into potentially dangerous situations."

"Someone's in trouble!" was Miku's argument as she entered the crowd as easily as a spoon dipped into pudding.

Rin had no such luck. Try as she might to slip past some of the onlookers, Rin couldn't pass any of them. It was as if everybody knew without seeing her wrist that Rin was a Juliet and unworthy of witnessing whatever had attracted such a crowd. No matter how much Rin yelled, "Excuse me!" and "I need to get to my mistress!" nobody relented. Huffing in irritation, Rin dropped to her hands and knees and crawled between the legs of everyone as if she were once again a small child.

When she came to the front of the crowd, Rin's heart stopped. Her mouth suddenly went dry. She dug her nails into the ground as if to anchor herself as she watched what she knew she was about to witness.

"Leave me alone!" shouted a dark-skinned girl with pink hair. Her red eyes, wet with tears, were locked onto the trio of men surrounding her.

The men snickered, coming in closer like predator to prey. With the crowd now formed, this girl no longer had anywhere to escape. Nobody did anything to help her as it became clear these men weren't interested in playing nice with her.

"You must think you're somebody if you have the nerve to tell _us_ what to do!" one of the men sneered. "Don't think just because those Juliets attacked that school you're suddenly somebody special."

"I had nothing to do with that," the girl insisted, her gaze traveling over the faces in the crowd as if to plead with someone, anyone, to come to her aid.

"Sure you didn't," another of the men replied. "But what if you could have joined? Would the story be any different then?"

"Look," the girl tried, "I just want to run errands for my master and go home. I don't desire to cross anyone."

The last chuckled. "You crossed us plenty already just for having that tattoo on your wrist."

Rin didn't need to hear anymore. "Stop it!" she cried as she pushed herself to her feet and rushed towards the Juliet.

However, someone grabbed her from behind. Before Rin could process who had yanked her by the arm, she was thrown back to the ground. Her head hit the pavement so hard Rin blacked out for a moment or two.

Although Rin couldn't see or move, she could still hear and feel. She felt the blood pooling in her mouth and dripping down her cheek as the side of her face was pressed against the rough pavement. Somebody, most likely Miku, called Rin's name. Rin's head was picked up and placed onto something soft. Gentle fingers stroked the loose strands of hair from Rin's eyes.

Then the Juliet screamed. The crowd roared, but Rin couldn't figure out why. When Miku sucked in a sharp breath, Rin felt her blood turn to ice.

It was then her eyes started working again, and Rin forced herself to move. Pushing herself upright away from Miku's lap, and ignoring Miku's protests in the process, Rin turned around to see the crowd growing deathly still. Deathly quiet. The sounds of someone trying too hard to breathe were just barely audible from the inside of the ring.

"Rin, what are you—" Miku began, but Rin didn't stick around to hear her finish the question.

Crawling back under, Rin again scurried to the center of the crowd. When she could see what was going on, Rin froze without crawling all the way out. Her breath caught in her throat.

One of the men had his hands wrapped around the Juliet's throat, and the other two each held one of her arms back. The Juliet was crying, her lips slowly moving in a silent plea. Her chocolate dark face grew paler and paler. Her lips turned blue. Nobody did anything to stop this senseless violence.

Before Rin could cry out again, all three men simultaneously let go of the Juliet. Her body fell to the ground as if she were nothing more than a lifeless ragdoll. When the Juliet didn't try to move from the cold, hard ground, Rin knew that this girl now really was not much different than a ragdoll.

Snapping her attention this way and that, Rin saw only two reactions: horror at the crime just committed and approval of one less Juliet roaming the streets.

Eyes returning to and locking on the now dead Juliet, Rin sucked in a sharp breath. The girl's lifeless red orbs stared into nothing. Her colorless lips were still parted in one of her unheard pleas.

"Rin, let's go!"

Both Miku and Merli grabbed each of Rin's arms at the same time and lifted the blonde to her feet. Rin neither helped them haul her away nor resisted, instead letting her heels drag against the ground. Yet no matter how far away Rin was pulled from the scene, she could still see that Juliet's soulless stare gazing into her very being.

"We need to get going, now!" Ms. Megurine shouted as she helped the other two pack Rin into the carriage.

Once they were all inside and the carriage was off, Miku grabbed Rin by the face and demanded, "What has gotten into you? Why did you just sit there? Rin, some of them were talking about killing you next!"

It was a solid minute before Rin processed Miku's words. "They were?"

Nobody could verbally confirm Rin's question. Miku and Merli sadly nodded, and Ms. Megurine kept her attention firmly locked on the window.

Although Rin knew what she had seen and had no questions about it, she still found herself asking, "They killed that girl for no reason other than she was a Juliet?"

Miku looked everywhere but at Rin. "They, um, yes, they did."

"She had done nothing wrong?"

"I don't think she did anything except go out to run errands."

"They really were going to kill me next, weren't they?"

This question Miku did not answer. Hands traveling down from Rin's cheeks to her shoulders, Miku pulled Rin into a hug and held her close. It took Miku's trembling against Rin's chest for the Juliet to realize that Miku had begun crying.

Rin slowly returned the hug and buried her face into the crook of Miku's neck. After what she had just seen, Rin didn't want to see anything else the world had to show her. It would have been okay if Rin didn't have to see anything again for a long, long time.

However, Rin could still hear. That was something Rin could not block out no matter how much she would have wanted. It was why she was able to hear every last word Merli spoke to Ms. Megurine.

"This senseless murder won't go unnoticed. It's not going to be ignored. I . . . I fear that it's start of something we won't be able to control."

* * *

This had to be some kind of sick joke. Or perhaps this was her punishment for peeing in the temple fountain when she was sixteen to spite the goddess. Either way, Meiko refused to relent to this plan. There was no way she was going to do it. Meiko refused to enter the Cinderella Academy under the guise of Ona's maid.

"You act as if I'm going to make you perform unforgivable tasks while in the public eye," Ona said as she and Meiko sat in the upper part of the shack. As above ground was colder and less sightly than the headquarters hidden beneath, it wasn't a bad place to go if Meiko wanted to speak with another privately.

"Well, for one," Meiko began, picking the lint off her sleeve, "you seem exactly like the type of person who would do such a thing."

Ona neither confirmed nor denied this, choosing instead to simply grin at Meiko.

"And another," Meiko continued, "I have the kind of pride you can pave a path to the moons with. Do you honestly think I can pull off pretending to be your personal maid when I don't know how I'll manage to get myself into the uniform in the first place?"

Laughing, Ona leaned back in the old, worn couch and replied, "You seem to be a convincing actress. I don't see why you can't pull this off if you're really determined to. Besides, I'm sure you would look cute in that silly dress."

"There is nothing about me that is cute."

"I apologize. How does 'mischievously adorable' sound?"

"Much better, thank you."

"At least you don't have to pretend to have some sort of condition that leaves you unable to care for yourself." Ona threw her head back and closed her eyes. "Despite Tonio's insistence I pretend to not be all there, I would much rather pretend to just be lame. A sharp mind is too good a thing to waste."

Before Meiko could respond, Kaito walked up the stairs and said, "You wouldn't be wasting your sharp mind, Ona. You would just have to pretend you don't know where you are half the time. You can still get the highest scores in the class."

"I could," Ona mused, "but I won't. If everyone knew I'm this gorgeous, funny, _and_ smart, they would cry at how unfair the world is."

"They're a bunch of Cinderellas." Meiko rolled her eyes. "Someone should give them just the smallest taste at how unfair everything is. A dose of reality never hurt anyone."

"It seems to me you say that from experience," Kaito muttered, sitting next to Ona and tinkering on his tablet.

Raising a brow, Meiko said, "Um, come again?"

"I mean, you are an Alice," Kaito said as if Meiko could somehow forget about the tattoo that was forced onto her wrist when she wasn't a day over five years old. "Your destiny is to work for everything. Sometimes you prevail, and sometimes you don't. At the end of the day, Fate has picked its favorite, and there's nothing you can do about it."

"Those words would have been acceptable if their tone didn't tell me that you approve of every one," Meiko growled.

"The caste system exists for a reason," Kaito argued, just barely lifting his eyes from his tablet.

"And what is that reason?"

"Your destiny was foretold by the stars, and there is no escaping it."

"And what about _your_ destiny, huh, little lord?"

"I'm a man, and men can forge their own destiny. Women, however, cannot. Your job is to be what the goddess wants you to be."

"The goddess, or society?"

Now Kaito looked up. "You dare challenge the legitimacy of a deity?"

"Kaito," Ona cut in, "you're not even religious. I know as well as you do that you're fighting on the side of societal norms."

"And you're one to talk?" Kaito challenged. "Are you also not fighting to keep Artemis the way it has been for centuries?"

"Careful, Kaito," Ona narrowed her eyes, "you don't know why I signed up for this."

"Yes, I do," Kaito argued. "You wanted to try to find your cousin."

"That was a main reason, yes." Ona said nothing after that. Meiko could feel the unspoken words left hanging in the air. However, they were too out of reach for the Alice to grab.

"Why are you even here?" Meiko asked Kaito, her fingers curled into tight fists. "Do you really hate Juliets so much that you truly desire to tear them down so thoroughly that they could never hope to stand again?"

Kaito didn't miss a beat. "Of course."

Remembering the story she heard from that academy about a Juliet being caught with a Cinderella and the Juliet being beheaded while the Cinderella got to walk away without suffering any consequences, Meiko growled, "It's people like you that make me empathize with the Juliets."

"And rebellious women like you are the reason Artemis isn't the perfect world it can be," Kaito remarked. "If all you stupid women just accepted that your tattoos tell you what your worth is in this world and stuck to fulfilling that role, then maybe just—"

Before Kaito had the chance to go any further, Meiko screamed and lunged towards him. Ona jumped off the couch and stood a good distance away, watching Meiko pounce onto Kaito like a lioness pounces onto its prey. Lucky for Kaito, Meiko did not have any of her knives on her lest one of them would find a new home in Kaito's porcelain smooth white face.

"You absolute bastard!" Meiko shouted as she pounded at Kaito with her leather clad fists. "The fault of society aren't women like me! It's snot lickers like you who have their head so far up their own ass they wouldn't know fresh air if they breathed it that is the reason things have continued to decline! Nobody gets to tell me what to do and who to be! Not some stupid tattoo, and especially not somebody like you!"

Meiko had a lot more she wanted to say, and if she could have said it – and kept beating her fists against Kaito while she was at it – she would have. Yet before she could go any further, someone grabbed her from behind and threw her off Kaito, sending her to crash land on her butt a few feet away. The hands were off her waist just as fast as they took a hold of her, but Meiko knew immediately that it was Big Al who was both stupid enough and brave enough to dare make physical contact with a woman lashing out like a wild animal.

"That's enough, Sakine!" Big Al roared as Meiko glared at him from the ground.

"He deserved it!" was Meiko's childish argument. She turned her attention from Big Al to Kaito to see the man covering his face, blood gushing from his nose and leaking through his fingers. Good.

"If I could have you thrown in jail right now," Kaito began, but Meiko interrupted him.

"But you can't, little lord! Nobody else is here to hold your hand when you get a boo boo. You're playing with the big kids now."

"I said that's enough!" Big Al sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. To Ona, "Why did you let Meiko jump Kaito like that?"

"Meiko wasn't wrong," Ona replied. "Kaito did deserve it."

"Whose side are you on?" Kaito asked, prompting Ona to answer, "The side that isn't stupid."

"You three better start acting like adults before you go off for this mission," Big Al warned. "I can't believe I actually have to remind you that this isn't some little game with no consequences. This is a life or death mission if you get caught, and you most certainly will be caught if you can't get your acts together!"

Nobody said anything. Meiko looked at Kaito to see him watching her. Narrowing her eyes, Meiko promised without words that this wasn't over. Kaito's barely audible growl was the sign that he got the message. They might have had to work together, but Meiko and Kaito both knew that didn't mean they had to like each other. Not that such was ever going to happen in the first place.

"Good thing Hio will be joining you." Big Al sighed into his hand. "He's the only one I can trust to keep you all from killing yourselves."

"I thought Luki was leading the team?" Kaito muttered through his fingers, his nosebleed having yet to slow.

"Luki will be laughing his butt off as he watches us kill each other." Meiko pushed herself to her feet. "I'm going to bed now."

"It's six o'clock."

"Early to bed, early to rise. Besides," Meiko took one last look at Kaito, and she could sense all the negative thoughts he had about her just as she had her fair share for him, "I'm going to need all the strength gathering I can get if I'm going to be working on this mission with such a classist bastard."

"If we fail this mission, it will be because of you," Kaito felt the need to say.

Meiko didn't need to reply for Big Al was already onto Kaito and telling him to shut up, but that didn't stop a comment from rising up. However, Meiko pushed it back down. Pushing all the thoughts and feelings back down, Meiko slowly turned away and descended the stairs. Hio saw her and asked what was wrong, but Meiko didn't answer. She simply collapsed onto her mattress and didn't get up again, not even to eat or use the restroom, for the rest of the evening.

* * *

_Special. Chosen. Blessed._

Those were the words used to describe Gahata Meiji. They circled around her head, trying to convince her of their truth. However, Meiji knew what being chosen truly meant.

_Selected. Inanimate. Whore._

Many of her Sisters looked at Meiji with envy in their eyes when she was the one from their generation chosen as Mother. Little did they know Meiji would have given up that title to any who wanted it in a heartbeat. Yet she couldn't, because the All Mother had proclaimed that it was the goddess's destiny for Meiji to be chosen to help preserve the Sisterhood through her womb.

 _Well,_ Meiji thought, _looks like the goddess and I have different plans._

It took far too long in the summer days for the sun to set. Meiji didn't like the wait, especially since it guaranteed that her anxiety would continue to grow until the fateful moment finally arrived. Though when it finally came, and everyone within the Sisterhood had retired for the night, Meiji found that she couldn't leave fast enough.

"Careful," Ian, her brother and only full sibling, whispered as he took Meiji's hand and helped her descend the mountain.

They did not take the paved pathway. If anyone was awake and on the watch for trespassers, or someone like Meiji looking to escape, they would expect to see someone sneaking around on a path that did not promise a broken neck if anyone took a wrong step. This way meant either fleeing the Sisterhood or die trying.

For Meiji, death was better than becoming Mother.

"What if someone catches us?" Yukari, Meiji's best friend and favorite half-sister, softly spoke into the night air.

"They won't," Meiji replied. What she didn't add was, "I would kill myself before I let them get a hold of me."

Yukari, however, was insistent. "But what if they do?"

"We run," Ian stated. "We are not going back. I refuse to turn back."

Yukari didn't say anything, but she did make a sound that seemed to indicate she wasn't sure of this.

"You can turn back now," Meiji said, stopping in place. Her brother stood just in front of her, their hands tightly holding the other's. Yukari was too far back for comfort.

If Yukari turned back, she wouldn't have to live life on the run. However, the Sisters would know Yukari was aware of what became of Meiji and Ian. The things they would do to extract this information from Yukari—

"No, I'm coming with you." Yukari bounced forward, almost like a graceful deer on those loose rocks. The Sister-in-Training was as fleet-footed as she was precise. Nobody other than Meiji knew Yukari liked to dance alone in her room after everyone else retired for the night.

Now that she stood next to Meiji, Yukari stated, "I want to escape my fate just as much as you want to escape yours."

"Your second thoughts suggest otherwise," Meiji pointed out.

Nodding, Yukari replied, "Well, no more. I would much rather run away with my sister and brother now than stay behind and be forced to learn how to draw roses, butterflies, and crowns on a child's delicate flesh. Now, let's go. The further away we are when someone notices we're gone, the better chance we will have at getting away."

As they continued to march forward, Ian said, "There will never truly be a 'getting away.' The Sisterhood has eyes all over the continent. Even if we flee to another, that continent's Sisterhood should be able to locate us as well. We're going to have to spend the rest of our lives watching our backs and sleeping with our eyes open."

"As if we weren't already doing that before," Meiji muttered. Ian squeezed her hand. She returned the gesture.

Under the cover of the night, the three slipped away from the only home they had ever known to escape to a new life. A Mother who didn't want to have bastard children. A Sister who didn't want to read the destinies written by the goddess for other girls. A boy who no longer wanted to be a slave. Despite their entire lives telling the three that there was no escaping fate, the three of them all took their chances to run away from the lives they were born into.


	6. Chapter 6

Not trusting anyone in the hideout to give him any privacy, Kaito waited until the frigid air stopped blowing so harshly to step outside of the shack and make himself comfortable, or at least as comfortable as he could manage, on a small, wooden bench out in the never-ending snow. Kaito was homesick. He hadn't even been in the Winter Continent for a week, and he was already prepared to go back home and never think about this bone-chilling hellscape ever again.

Kaito was tired of the continual darkness.

He would scream if he had to spend another night shivering himself to sleep.

He missed his home in the Summer Continent.

He missed his family.

As much as Kaito didn't want to admit it to himself, he also missed Miku.

There were a lot of things Kaito regretted. Sometimes dumb things he did when he was twelve that would keep him up at night whenever his brain felt it necessary to remind him of stupid mistakes he made, and sometimes they were more serious grievances. However, right now, Kaito's biggest regret was not killing that blonde Juliet when he had the chance.

It didn't matter if she was guilty or innocent. It didn't matter if Tonio had enlisted her help back at the start of that tragic school year. All that mattered was somehow and someway, this Juliet had stolen Miku from him.

Kaito could think of no bigger blow than losing his fiancée to a Juliet of all people. He couldn't even begin to figure out how that Juliet tricked Miku into thinking of her as a dear friend whose life was more precious than Yuzuki Gakuko's. This Juliet was some sort of master manipulator, and Kaito let her go.

Perhaps instead of giving her to Miku, Kaito should have made sure that Juliet had no hopes of recovering during those few hours she belonged to him.

No longer wanting to think about Miku, and especially the Juliet who took Miku from him, Kaito searched through his contact information until his family's name graced the screen. Although his mother should have been the first person Kaito contact, he didn't think she would handle the news of his whereabouts well even if Kaito fed her some convincing, trust-me-I'm-perfectly-safe lie. Akaito, his troublesome cousin, was not an option. That left only one person. Knowing the best person to call was the one person who was the closest thing to a twin Kaito ever had, his finger pressed against Kaiko's name and he confirmed that she was the one he wanted to call.

Kaiko answered during the first ring. Hair and eyes wild, Kaiko began screaming, "For the love of Artemis, Kaito, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to contact any of us ever again! You pop us a quick message to tell us that you survived that attack on the academy, then that's it?! I get you're busy helping to investigate or whatever it is you're doing now, but didn't you ever think to maybe just maybe send us a short, written message every now and again so we can be updated on how you're doing and not be worried over the possibility that you're dead somewhere in a ditch? Kaito, I swear I would somehow find you wherever you are and kill you if I wasn't so relieved to hear from you and can see with my eyes that you're not dead yet!"

Waiting only a moment to make sure his cousin had nothing else to say, Kaito replied, "I'm sorry it's been a few days, Kaiko, but I am glad to see you again. Even if it's through a tablet screen."

All Kaiko did was narrow her eyes and stick out her lower lip in a pout.

Quieter, Kaito added, "You know I call you every chance I get. I'm sorry it's not as often as you like, but I can't make a habit of disappearing from my team just so you can hear from me regularly."

"I know," Kaiko reluctantly replied, "but that doesn't mean I have to like it. You're a book nerd, Kaito, not a fighter. How do I know you won't get yourself killed?"

"I have no intentions of going into combat."

"Yeah, we see how well that worked out when the Thorns attacked that school."

Kaito opened his mouth to respond, but realizing his cousin had a point, he closed it again.

Seeming to understand that there was no point in arguing as Kaito wouldn't change his mind about working to stop what she believed to be a Juliet rebellion, Kaiko asked, "Well, have you talked to Miku lately? I unfortunately no longer have her contact information – my own fault for breaking my tablet without saving her contact across my other devices. It doesn't help she hasn't reached out to me either, but I still want to check in on her and learn how she's doing."

When Kaito didn't immediately respond, Kaiko frowned and asked, "What's wrong? Have you not been in contact with Miku either?"

"No," Kaito answered, hating the syllable as it passed through his lips.

"Okay, that's not a I-lost-her-contact-info-too no." Kaiko's demeanor softened. "Kaito, what happened?"

With a heavy sigh, Kaito told Kaiko nearly everything he had been carrying for what felt like months. He told his cousin how he had proposed to Miku and their agreement to keep the engagement a secret. It was possibly the happiest time of Kaito's life before Miku broke off the engagement shortly after the Cinderella Academy Attack. What Kaito did not tell Kaiko was the blonde Juliet's involvement in any of this, neither in the attack or being Miku's reason to call off the wedding before they could even begin to plan it. Kaito already felt ashamed telling Kaiko all of this, and he couldn't bear to tell her that it was all thanks to one manipulative Juliet.

"Oh, no, Kaito," his cousin whispered as Kaito finished telling her about the end of his relationship with Miku. "I'm so sorry. I know you two really liked each other. I'm surprised she would break it off with you so suddenly."

"Yes, well, she did." Kaito sighed again. "I still have her contact information, if you would like to get in touch with her."

"Hmm, no." Kaiko shook her head. "I don't want to reach out to her unless I know she's okay keeping in contact with me. There's no way for me to know if breaking off your engagement meant breaking off contact with the rest of us unless she tells me. If that's the case, I don't think I want to know."

"Since when do you care what people think about you?"

"I have always cared, my dear cousin, I just don't make a habit of sharing it."

"Enough about my failed love life," Kaito said after a moment of silence hung in the air between them, "how are you, Akaito, and Mother doing? I really miss you all."

The next few minutes were spent with Kaiko quickly explaining how everyone had been doing since the last time Kaito contacted them. Lady Yanhe, Kaito's mother, was adjusting to leading her district while in hiding, Kaiko was helping her to the best of her abilities, and not much was to be said of Akaito. He did what was required of him, but nothing more and nothing less. It was just like Akaito, but Kaito could see Kaiko's frustration in their cousin not stepping up more in these trying times. When Kaito asked if Kaiko had said anything to him, all Kaiko did was give Kaito a look that told him, "Of course I said something, but do you honestly think he would listen to me even if the fate of the world depended on it?"

"Other than that," Kaiko said as a way of finishing her family news update, "we have all been doing well enough. We mi—Well, Aunt Yanhe and I miss you and worry about you, but we're willing to believe you're taking care of yourself. Just don't go about doing anything else stupid and putting yourself in more dangerous situations, okay?"

"I promise that I will try, but I can't promise that I will succeed." Kaito wished his cousin was there with him, but he didn't voice that desire. As lonely as he was, he was grateful his family was someplace remotely safe. He couldn't say as much about himself or those around him.

"Unfortunately, I know that's the best you can offer me." Kaiko sadly smiled. "Don't wait too long to call again, okay?"

"Define 'too long.'" The two chuckled and said goodbye. Kaito ended the call and felt himself miss Kaiko as if he hadn't just spoken with her.

Considering how much he still kept to himself when the two never had a secret between them as children, perhaps Kaito hadn't truly spoken to Kaiko in a long, long time.

"Do you plan on staying out here all night?" Luki asked, emerging from around the corner.

After Kaito recovered from nearly jumping out of his skin, he answered Luki's question with one of his own. "How long have you been listening to my conversation with my cousin?"

"Nearly the whole time," Luki said with a shrug, as if he did not just invade Kaito's privacy without first getting Kaito's consent.

"And how much did you hear?"

"All of it."

There was a lot Kaito wanted to say, but he chose to speak none of it. Privacy was an illusion at this point, anyway. Perhaps he should have been grateful to go for this long without having any undesired eavesdroppers listening in on his conversations.

"Consider yourself blessed," Luki then said, sitting beside Kaito on the bench. "You dodge a blaster shot with this whole engagement thing."

"And what do you know of engagement?" Kaito halfheartedly challenged. It wasn't that he really cared much, but he was a little curious as to why Luki would make such a comment. Luki didn't strike Kaito as the kind of guy who had been engaged or married before.

Which proved to be the case when Luki replied, "Not a lot personally, I admit, but I've seen my fair share of married couples. My parents hated each other. My sister's husband drove her to commit suicide. I don't think I have ever had a friend remain happy after marriage. Marriage had always seemed to me the thing you do when you want to guarantee you stay miserable for the rest of your life."

Kaito gave it a moment of thought before he returned, "I won't say you're wrong about your friends and family, but not every married couple is miserable. I have a pair of friends who have been married for a few years now, and they are the happiest people I know. In a lot of ways, I envy what they have."

Shrugging, Luki said, "Okay, you know one happy couple. I won't deny happy marriages do exist. However, they are the exception to the rule."

"Has there ever been anyone you admired?" Kaito asked after a moment, suddenly filled with a childish sense of curiosity.

"Hell, no." Luki snorted. "Perhaps a girl I liked to peep on and touch whenever I could, even if mostly because she was the only female I saw on a regular basis, but never admired. Or at least not the way a former coworker admired said girl."

"Let me guess, they married and he instantly regretted it but is now left with no choice but to live his life in misery?"

"Aha, nope. The poor bastard died before they could get married."

The way Luki said that, as if this coworker's death was part of a sick joke of some kind, made Kaito's stomach feel uneasy. However, Kaito wanted to know what happened. He voiced the question to Luki.

"Boating accident," Luki briefly explained. "It was an old boat, and it gave way from underneath the girl. She fell in. Damn thing couldn't swim, so the guy jumped in after her. Gets tangled in an abandoned net in the process. She made it out and back onto the boat, but he drowned. Didn't have a knife or nothing to help him save his own sorry ass."

"He gave his life for hers," Kaito breathed, imagining what could have possibly been going through that guy's mind in his final moments. The girl he loved could live, but the cost was his own life. A part of Kaito wondered if had the guy known either the woman he loved died or he died in her place, if he would have still made that same decision.

"The stupidest thing you could ever do," Luki stated, sending Kaito's thoughts to an abrupt halt.

Looking at Luki from the corner of his eye, Kaito asked, "So you mean to tell me there isn't a single person you would die for?"

"Of course not," Luki answered. "I'm going to watch out for Number One. Everyone else is on his own."

"You wouldn't die for any of us if you were ever presented with the choice?"

Luki laughed without humor. "I would betray every single one of you for the right price."

Heart sinking in his chest, Kaito stared at the pinket for a moment or two. All Luki did was stare into the endless winter night sky. Then he turned to Kaito and grinned.

"No need to look so distressed," he said, a devilish chuckle to his words. "What, you think I was serious?"

"I don't know you or what you would do if driven to make an impossible choice," Kaito replied, feeling a chill in his bones that had nothing at all to do with the bitter cold and the wicked wind howling all around them. "Would you be a man who makes whatever sacrifices necessary for his team, or would you be the man to sacrifice your own team just to save the skin of your hide?"

Luki's grin widened.

* * *

Upon returning to the Megurine mansion, Rin and the others were at a loss for what to do next. After attending Ms. Yuzuki's funeral then watching an innocent Juliet murdered in cold blood, nobody dared suggest a normal activity to lessen the darkness of the day thus far. However, none of the girls wanted to spend the rest of the visit doing nothing.

"Perhaps we can take a walk in the garden?" Luka suggested, pulling on her hair as if she didn't know what to do with her hands. "Merli has chores to attend to, but the three of us can get a little fresh air in our lungs."

Rin turned her attention to Miku to watch her mistress chew on her lower lip in thought. Miku looked out the window as if that would help her make a decision. Then, after a moment, she replied, "A walk would be lovely."

As the two Cinderellas stood to prepare to go out, Rin looked at Merli. The Alice was already staring at Rin, nothing about her expression readable. Had Rin not read Merli's note, she wouldn't have known Merli was seeing an opportunity, an opportunity Rin should take.

"You go ahead," Rin told Miku. "I think I'm going to prepare our bags so we can leave first thing in the morning."

Miku frowned. "That shouldn't take more than ten minutes. Why not take a walk then pack tonight?"

Thinking up an excuse quickly, Rin held her head for show. "I have a headache from the heat. It will do me much better to stay indoors than to stand under the blazing summer sun."

Although Miku's frown deepened, she did not argue. She took a deep breath and told Rin that she hoped the Juliet felt better. Swallowing bile, Rin thanked Miku and wished her an enjoyable walk.

After the two Cinderellas were given their walking shoes, had taken hold of their parcels, and walked outside, Rin sagged. She didn't know what Merli wanted to talk to her about. If Rin was being completely honest with herself, she didn't want to know.

"Rin," Merli called in what sounded to be a permissive tone, "I know you have a headache, but would it bother you too much to help me fold the laundry? I would really appreciate the help."

"I can help," Rin replied after a moment spent in pretend consideration.

Following Merli, Rin walked out of the grandeur of the mansion and into the servant quarters. It wasn't as bad as the Juliet quarters in the Cinderella Academy, but Rin still felt unease how the home transitioned from a richly decorated and colorful design to bare, colorless walls and dry wood floors. Rin felt a little sad looking around the minimal living conditions of women who were supposed to be of a higher status than she.

Along the way, Merli picked up a basket of clean clothes from a fellow Alice servant. She thanked her coworker, paid a smile and a compliment, and again went on her way. Unable to shove down the awkward feelings, Rin kept close on Merli's heels.

When they came to an empty, well lit room with painfully white walls, Merli shut the door with her foot and set the basket on a small wooden table. There wasn't much else in the room save a couple of stools and what Rin assumed was a bucket of extra cleaning supplies. Both girls sat down in the chairs, and Merli began to fold the laundry.

"Rin," Merli began slowly, as if she was dipping her toes in a lake she was familiar with but wasn't sure she trusted, "how capable are you of keeping a secret?"

_What does Merli want to talk about that she wants to keep this between us?_

Bouncing a shoulder up and down, Rin casually replied, "I would explain just how good, but that would involve giving away some secrets of my own."

Merli smirked. "I cannot tell if you're messing with me or have lived that undercover a life."

As if she had no cares in the world, Rin casually said, "I am no stranger to working undercover, that I will admit. Anything beyond that fact, I'm afraid I won't be breathing a word of it to you."

"I can appreciate your ability to live separate lives." Merli picked a towel out of the basket and began to fold it. "Tell me, Rin, what do you know about Lord Zola?"

Rin's heart skipped a beat. She imagined Lady Zola, shot in the head by Rin's former coworker Nana, left to die within the academy walls. Although she didn't know either Lord or Lady Zola personally, Rin knew they were a part of Master Tonio's team and by that extent her allies. Then again, Lord Shion was also technically her ally, but that didn't stop him from insisting on being her enemy for no reason other than the blood rose tattoo inked onto Rin's skin. Rin didn't know if the Zolas would have accepted her had they interacted or if they would have been just as disgusted by her presence as Lord Shion was.

Choosing to not pick a side either way, Rin merely stated, "I know they are the ruling family of this district, and I know Ms. Hatsune has met and even regularly interacted with Zola Wil and Zola Mew."

"Yes, but do you know how they became the ruling family of the Feyre District?" Merli asked, completely uninterested in Rin's indirect connection to the family.

After Rin answered by shaking her head, Merli explained, "About two or three generations ago, the Megurines were the lords and ladies over the Feyre District. Then, when the lord at the time was about to pass away, he named his favorite child, also his only daughter, his heir. None of his sons were happy about it, especially since the daughter had been married the year before and had taken her husband's name."

Rin didn't need Merli to finish. "These brothers were offended that not only their sister was chosen as heir, but that their family name would no longer be the ruling name over the district."

"Exactly." Merli nodded. "Needless to say, it left a bitter, one-sided rivalry between the Megurines and the Zolas. A rivalry, I should add, that doesn't bother Luka in the slightest."

"She doesn't want to be lady of the district?"

"No, Luka wants to be a fashion designer. Not that her parents are thrilled about it, but she can't fulfill their dreams alongside her own. Luka has no desire to 'take back what is rightfully hers.'"

Furrowing her brows, Rin tried and failed to see where Merli was going with this. She struggled connecting the dots, and no picture formed. Finally, Rin asked, "Why are you telling me this?"

Before Merli answered, she looked around the room as if it was possible for someone to be hiding within the few, small shadows. Leaning forward, Merli whispered as if afraid to be overheard by even the furniture. "The Megurines have been financially supporting the Thorns."

Rin had to bite back the urge to shout. So many questions were running through her mind – how did Merli find out, why would the Megurines do this, and if they really cared about Juliet equality. She didn't have to ask any of them, however, because Merli was already explaining.

"I found out by accident," she began. "I was cleaning Master Megurine's office some weeks back when I stumbled upon a broken-sealed letter. He must have not known I was going to clean his room that day. I nor anyone else was scheduled to, but the others and I decided to clean the rooms since earlier that morning Mistress Megurine had been talking of potentially throwing Luka a welcome home party.

"Anyway, curiosity got the better of me, and I read the letter. Master Megurine is in contact with some woman named Galaco. She knows who he is and that he has money. Their deal was made very clear.

"In exchange for the Thorns receiving funding, they are to create unrest in the Feyre District. When there is enough of a following and reason to go through with the plot, the Thorns are going to overthrow the Zolas. Once this is accomplished, the Megurines will walk in and pick up leading the district right where they left off generations ago. The deal for their reclaiming lordship is better lives and opportunities for all Juliets."

Rin shook her head, barely able to believe any of it. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you're a Juliet. You saw what happened today. There's a bigger target on your back than on anyone else I know."

"You think I might be in danger?"

"Absolutely." Merli pursed her lips as she stared at the laundry as if somewhere within the fabric was the answers to all the world's problems. "I'm just saying with the Megurines financially supporting the Thorns, odds are the Thorns are going to get more than a little dangerous. If they do, the people will react. You will be a target for no reason other than your tattoo. I need you to be careful. I don't have very many friends left. I would hate to lose you again after just getting you back."

Unable to think of a response, Rin muttered that she understood and resumed folding. As she worked, Rin thought about what Merli had said. There was just one thing Rin wanted to ask.

"Do you honestly think the Megurines have any intentions of maintaining their promises with the Thorns about bettering life for Juliets?"

It appeared as if Merli was trying to not snort. "Of course I don't."

* * *

Cul hadn't been able to make eye contact with Galaco since that meeting. When the news of Ruby, a Juliet who wasn't even a part of the Thorns and possibly wanted nothing to do with the uprising, was murdered in broad daylight, Cul had to keep herself from storming into Galaco's room and begin shouting at the top of her lungs. It did not take Cul much digging at all to discover that Galaco hired those guards to hunt down an innocent Juliet and make a martyr out of her.

If any of the others knew, they did not let on. Nobody breathed a word to another. Whether or not anyone agreed was an even bigger mystery.

So much of Cul wanted to tell Ia and Lapis how right they were, but she kept to herself. They didn't need to know. They hated Cul enough as it was.


End file.
